17th Jun 2020 11:50
(Alliance News) - Amigo Holdings PLC shareholders on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted against the proposals to remove its board.
Shares in the subprime lender were down 14% in London on Wednesday at 12.90 pence each.
The board had unanimously recommended that shareholders vote against these resolutions.
Richmond Group is the investment vehicle of Amigo Founder James Benamor and had called for a shareholder meeting to remove the entire board. He had hit out at Amigo on social media in March, saying the company is "committing slow-motion suicide".
In response, Amigo's chair and chief executive officer have already committed to stepping down.
At the shareholder meeting, however, over 90% of shareholders voted against the removal of Chair Stephan Wilcke, Senior Independent Director Roger Lovering, Non-Executive Director Richard Price, CEO Hamish Paton and Chief Financial Officer Nayan Kisnadwala.
Wilcke has agreed to step down from his role on Thursday. Lovering will take over as acting chair until a permanent replacement can be found.
Amigo noted Wilcke will continue as a consultant to the company for six months.
In a statement last Monday, Wilcke said: "I have chosen to resign now to make it crystal clear to everyone that the assertions made by Richmond Group about the motivations of myself and the board as clinging to our seats for our own ends are completely false."
Also, Amigo said outgoing CEO Paton will step down on July 31 - following the company's annual general meeting. Paton agreed to step down in late 2019 following the return to the board of Benamor.
Benamor up until March sat on Amigo's board. His recently-ended stint on Amigo's board began last December, after he first left in September 2018.
Amigo and Benamor settled their dispute last week, with Benamor deciding to sell his entire 61% stake in the company.
Amigo has also previously terminated its sales process as a potential acquirer with whom the company had been in discussions has withdrawn.
Amigo said it has no other acquisition offers and therefore is terminating its formal sale process with immediate effect. The lender had been in talks with an unnamed buyer over a potential 20.9p each offer for Amigo, valuing the entire company at roughly GBP100 million, compared to its current market capitalisation of GBP61.5 million.
By Paul McGowan; [email protected]
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