Athelney’s MD calls for board ousting ahead of April AGM – towards the end of January, we covered the exciting results of Athelney’s (ATY) EGM (All change please!) and the subsequent resignation of new appointee Paul Coffin, who resigned a few days later, leaving the other new appointee, David Lawman as the sole director of the trust. David subsequently made two appointments to the board (Little Athelney Trust beefs up its board again).
There may be even more upheaval in store ahead of the April 3 AGM. Manny Pohl, the fund’s manager and managing director (he is also a significant shareholder) has written to shareholders recommending they re-appoint Simon Moore to the board and not authorise the issue of any shares by the current directors.
Manny Pohl calls for board’s ousting
Key points made by Manny include:
“There is zero alignment of interest between the current directors, Gresham House (who recommended their appointment) and the shareholders of ATY. Gresham House clearly have their own agenda to pursue and none of the current directors’ have taken the time to acquaint themselves with the other ATY shareholders as Simon Moore had done during his brief stint as a director and Chairman. Furthermore, as far as I am aware, neither Gresham House nor any of the current directors own any shares in ATY, a requirement in any small company to ensure alignment of interest.
ATY has always been an extremely well-run investment trust with a low-cost structure and a compliance regime suitable for a small company. It would appear that the current directors have increased the cost base with increased travel and consultant fees, using corporate governance as the reason which is modern parlance for a complete lack of experience in the running of the relevant business.
The current board, in spite of having no meaningful funds management experience, have on a number of occasions attempted to interfere in both stock selection and asset selection, both of which are not the responsibility of the board but of the investment manager, not only contractually but also as indicated by Justice Haynes as a requirement to ensure good corporate governance.”
About Athelney
The trust’s investment objective is to provide shareholders with prospects of long-term capital growth with the risks inherent in small cap. investment minimized through a wide spread of holdings over various industries and sectors.
The company’s assets are allocated predominantly to companies with a market capitalisation of less than £100m with either a full listing on the London Stock Exchange or a trading facility on AIM or ISDX. The assets of the fund have been allocated in two main ways: first, to the shares of those companies which have grown steadily over the years in terms of profits and dividends but, despite this progress, the market rating has remained low or very low; second, to those companies whose shares are standing at a low level compared with the value of land, buildings or cash in the balance sheet.
ATY: Athelney’s MD calls for board ousting ahead of April AGM