Companies
Briefs .....
Clarity
Commerce Solutions | Betex
| J Sainsbury
| Dow Chemical | HealthSouth
| Telecom Italia
| Aegis
| Tesco
Clarity
Commerce Solutions has hit out at investors attempting to oust the retail
software group’s management, warning the proposed changes will damage
shareholder value. The rebel shareholders have criticised existing senior
management and requisitioned an EGM seeking boardroom changes.
Clarity’s board suggested the proposed overhaul of
management would adversely affect relationships with existing and potential
clients, particularly in the context of a 2 April trading update in which the
company stated it was “experiencing a high level of sales enquiries and advanced
contract discussions”. The board added that it remained confident of Clarity’s
prospects in the medium and longer term.
Betex, the
AIM-listed gaming company, has suspended its shares as a result of the arrest of
two senior staff members at its Beijing operations. Betex said a further senior
staff member was being sought by the Chinese authorities.
However, Betex added that it believed the alleged crimes
related to the conduct of individuals rather than the company. The suspension of
shares, said Betex, is owing to the uncertainty surrounding the situation and
the significance of the Beijing operations to the financial performance of the
company.
The private equity bid for
J Sainsbury, the supermarket chain,
has ended in failure. The consortium led by CVC
Capital Partners concluded, after discussions with the Sainsbury board, that
it would not be possible to satisfy pre-conditions attached to the bid.
Lombard in the Financial
Times (12 April) suggested that while many will view CVC’s failure as a
victory for listed companies over private equity, shareholders would be mistaken
to see this result as a cause for celebration.
The clipping of private equity’s wings, argued Lombard,
could breed complacency in the boards of larger companies, with management being
less inclined to pre-emptively emulate its tactics if private equity’s threat
appears to have waned.
Dow Chemical has sacked
Pedro Reinhard, a board member and its former chief financial officer, and Romeo
Kreinberg, an executive vice president, over their involvement in “highly
inappropriate” and unauthorised discussions to sell the company. Dow said it
became aware of the misconduct on Tuesday 10 April, the board of directors was
informed on Wednesday, and Reinhard and Kreinberg were fired on Thursday.
Andrew Liveris, Dell chairman and chief executive, said:
“I think I speak for all employees when I say we are greatly saddened by the
disrespect shown by our former colleagues”.
Richard Scrushy, former chief executive of
HealthSouth, has agreed to pay $81m to
settle a civil case brought over the massive accounting fraud at the US
healthcare group. As part of his settlement with the US
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),
Scrushy has also been permanently barred from serving as a director of a public
company.
The SEC case against Scrushy alleges that he directed the
overstatement of HealthSouth’s revenue by $2.6bn between 1996 and 2002. Scrushy
was tried for the fraud under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, but in 2005 was acquitted
of all criminal counts brought against him.
Telecom Italia
(TI) has hired Merrill Lynch and
Société Générale to advise it on
“hypothesized changes in the company’s shareholder structure” after a major
shareholder,
Olimpia, effectively ousted Guido Rossi as the company’s chairman. Olimpia,
which is owned by tyre company Pirelli,
omitted Rossi from its proposed slate of candidates for TI’s board.
TI said it had asked the financial advisers to evaluate
various strategic options “in the interests of the company and all its
shareholders”.
Vincent Bolloré’s
third attempt to have his candidates nominated to the board of
Aegis has met with no more success than
his first two, with each nominee being opposed by 93% of shares not controlled
by the French financier.
Lord Sharman, Aegis
chairman, said Bolloré’s position as chairman of
Havas, the media group’s French competitor, means his calls for
representation are unacceptable. He added that he hoped Groupe Bolloré would now
accept the decision of Aegis’ other shareholders.
Tesco is to
increase its share buy-back to £3bn. This is a rise of £1.5bn, and came as the
supermarket chain announced group operating profit had increased 17.7% to
2,648m.
May 2007
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