Gaylord shares gain after management changes

Shares of Gaylord Entertainment Co. gained modestly Wednesday after the company, which owns convention resorts and country music's Grand Ole Opry, announced management changes that included the departure of its chief operating officer.

Gaylord shares were up 17 cents at $11.91 in afternoon trading, after rising nearly 8 percent earlier in the session. The stock has traded between $4.76 and $37 during the past 52 weeks.

The Nashville-based company said Wednesday that COO John Caparella is leaving the company. Also, David Kloeppel, who currently serves as president and chief financial officer, will take on an expanded role and oversee all the company's operations. Kloeppel was named president in November.

Treasurer Mark Fioravanti will replace Kloeppel as CFO.

The changes are effective immediately.

In a statement, Gaylord Chairman and Chief Executive Colin V. Reed said Caparella's departure gave the company a chance "to move forward with our ongoing effort to streamline our management structure while taking advantage of the strength of our existing executives."

Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Woronka noted that the move will help Gaylord reduce operating costs at a time its revenue has take a hit from the sharp decline in business and travel spending. He said Caparella's base salary in 2009 was $500,000.

"Given what we believe to be a strongly favorable view of Kloeppel's business acumen and relationship with the Street, we suspect most investors will be pleased to have him take on a formal role on the operations side," Woronka said. "We also believe Kloeppel's new capacity further bolsters his candidacy to potentially take on the CEO role at some point in the future, when we think about management succession planning."