By August, the catalogue of dramas has set one group against the other, with the hybrid group setting up a website called PaperlinX SUX, where members vent their fury with the company and its performance.
In August, investment firm Allan Gray, a major ordinary shareholder, called for an agreement between the two groups, but this has not been achieved.
Top performers get a kick
Despite the year of enormous pressure and chaos, many senior managers at PaperlinX manage to achieve their targets and trigger their agreed bonuses. Within a week of Price’s appointment to the board, on September 1, the high-performing folk faced a jaw-dropping moment: their bonuses are all cancelled. The board invoked an “exceptional circumstances” clause in their incentive agreements, by the acting CEO, Dave Allen.
With not a hint of irony, Allen reportedly emailed the following message to staff: “I know that I can rely on you to continue to strive to improve the performance of your business … which will in turn lead to greater reward for employees …”
Man bites dog
After seven months of a bitter and very public battle with active shareholders, the PaperlinX board finally conceded the need for renewal.
Activist shareholder turned board member, Price, uses his first meeting to oust Boon and two other directors, Lyndsey Cattermole and Anthony Clarke. Fellow non-executive director, Michael McConnell, announced he would step down from the board in November.
Late in September, PaperlinX appointed a new chairman, an actuary and institutional investment manager, Michael Barker, replacing Boon, who had been in the chair for four years.
Barrister Robert Kaye was appointed at the same time as Barker.
Own goal
Proving that even corporate governance is capable of extraordinary moments, the three new PaperlinX directors vote against the remuneration report of their own company.
The report was voted against by 56% of shareholders, meaning the board has recorded a first strike against it. If the remuneration report is defeated next year, shareholders will have to vote on whether to trigger a board spill.
Another executive bites the dust
Back to now. The CFO, Richard Barfield, departs as the board continues the process of “renewal” … or is that self-immolation?
