Investor: Genesco on ‘concerning, downward trajectory’

Shares of Genesco rose 3 percent Monday after an activist investor said the shoe retailer’s leaders haven’t capitalized on the momentum generated by the 2019 sale of Lids Sports Group and declared it is backing a group of director candidates to replace all Genesco board members bar CEO Mimi Vaughn.

Legion Partners Asset Management owns 5.6 percent of the shares of Nashville-based Genesco and is making a second run at influencing the company’s strategies. In early 2018, it teamed with a New York peer to call for the retailer to slim down and to snag a few board seats. The sides agreed on a settlement that spring that gave Legion a presence on the Genesco board — its representative from 2018 through 2019, Marjorie Bowen, is part of Legion’s slate this time around — and Genesco a few months later sold Lids.