Kansas City, Mo. ? Breeden Capital Management LLC, which last month gained two seats on the board of restaurant chain Applebee’s, said Wednesday it is turning its attention to tax preparation firm H&R Block Inc.

Investors welcomed the news, sending Kansas City-based H&R Block’s share price up $1.02, or 4.6 percent, to $23.02 in trading Wednesday.

The Greenwich, Conn.-based investment fund, which owns 1.86 percent of H&R Block’s shares, said it would propose three board members at the company’s annual meeting, scheduled for Sept. 6.

Richard Breeden, the fund’s chief executive officer and a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said he would seek seats for himself and two others.

He said H&R Block’s stock performance has suffered as it ventured into areas outside the tax preparation arena, including lending to people with poor credit, securities brokering and opening its own bank last year.

“As shareholders, we believe that five years is long enough to wait for H&R Block to achieve attractive returns for shareholders,” Breeden said in a news release. “This board needs fresh perspectives and new energy, which we intend to supply.”

H&R Block released a statement that said, “We welcome input from all of our shareholders and have met with Breeden Capital Management LLC representatives, including Richard Breeden, on several occasions, to review publicly available information regarding H&R Block.”

The company reported last week reported an annual loss of $433.6 million, compared to profits of $490.4 million during the previous year. The period included an $808 million loss on discontinued operations, most from its troubled Option One subprime mortgage division, which the company plans to sell later this year to a subsidiary of Cerberus Capital Management LP.

Revenue for the year increased 12 percent from $3.57 billion to $4.02 billion.

Breeden has focused on shaking up companies he believes are underperforming.

That was the case for Overland Park-based Applebee’s International Inc., which Breeden said had let down shareholders as it struggled with a decline in customers and same-store sales. He advocated that the company rein in its expansion plans and sell some of its company-owned stores.

Following a brief proxy fight, Applebee’s said in April it would expand its 12-member board by two and give those seats to Breeden and an ally.