25th Feb 2019 10:47
LONDON (Alliance News) - WideCells Group PLC on Monday announced sweeping changes to its board, including the appointment of a new executive chair and the departure of a significant number of board members.
Shares in stem cells services firm WideCells were up 4.8% on Monday morning at 0.22pence, having spiked 18% to 0.25p at the London open.
Linton Capital LLP founder and managing partner David Sefton has joined the company as executive chair, while non-executive chair Peter Presland has departed.
Sefton holds a "significant financial interest" in WideCells, the company said, through the acquisition by Nuuco Media Ltd, which is controlled by Sefton, of an option to acquire up to 29.9% of WideCells.
Richard Thompson, founder investor of mobile telephony firm Fonix, also has joined the board as a non-executive director to support Sefton.
WideCells board members Joao Andrade and Jeremy Lea have stepped down from the board, though they will continue to work for WideCells subsidiary WideCells International Ltd. Lea will become chief executive officer of the subsidiary and Andrade will provide support.
Furthermore, non-executive directors Malcolm Glaister and David Henriques have resigned with immediate effect.
"We have taken control of the board of the company and are focussed on building a business that generates value for shareholders," Sefton said.
In late September, WideCells posted a widened pretax loss of GBP2.0 million for the first half of 2018 from GBP880,396 the year. This was due to an aborted acquisition, three attempts to raise capital, and re-organisation expenses.
"The new board has an extensive network, commercial experience and business expertise that we will utilise to implement a wider strategy and identify additional businesses that we believe will benefit from the new board and the listed corporate structure. We remain supportive of a restructured and simplified WideCells business, which will be run entirely through a subsidiary structure, and are excited about the future for the company itself and of consummating deals in the near future," said Sefton.
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