Chapter closes as reality settles in on Krispy Kreme

Winston-Salem Journal

The cloud that hung over Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. for 4½ years is breaking up.

But analysts say there is no guarantee that the company will recover anytime soon from the problems of former management and failed expansion on a national scale.

"Krispy Kreme became a vehicle for someone's Starbuckian dreams, but it ended up as just another bubble in an era of stock-market bubbles of this decade," said John Challenger, the chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a consulting firm.

 … The SEC settlement makes it easier for the company to move forward, said Paul Lapides, the director of the Corporate Governance Center at the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.

"But as far as believing in Krispy Kreme stock again, shareholders will continue to be more concerned about performance than the SEC action," Lapides said.