BPS chief to step down
TREVOR Dietz, CEO of Southport-based global trade exchange business BPS Technology, has announced he would step down at the end of the year, pre-empting moves by shareholders to oust the company’s board.
The announcement to the ASX came the week after news the company had signed a landmark deal with Asian mobile-phone payment platform Alipay and a month after its full-year results showed a 120 per cent rise in revenue to $110.5 million and a 40 per cent surge in net profit to $10.3 million.
BPS shareholders, fund managers Alceon and LHC Capital, wrote to the company in August to express concerns about how it was run, calling for a clean sweep of the board.
The shareholders, who together own 8.8 per cent of the company, called a members’ meeting for November 3, to discuss a resolution to remove Mr Dietz and current chairman Murray d’Almeida from the Board, along with all other current directors.
The resolution calls for the election of four new directors, including former Westpac CEO Peter Clare and former Paypal managing director Andrew Pipolo.
In a statement to the ASX late yesterday, Mr d’Almeida said the behaviour of the shareholders could destabilise the company.
“Their approach has been aggressive and far from ‘friendly’,” he said. “It has been framed in the context of demands that we do exactly what they want and been accompanied by threats if we do not.
“It has included selective briefing of a number of our larger shareholders, disseminating statements which are untrue or deliberately misrepresent certain events in order to create the impression of poor corporate governance.”
Mr d’Almeida said the company had commenced a formal search for two new nonexecutive directors and for a new chief to replace Mr Dietz.
“The next phase of BPS’s growth must be led by someone who has exceptional qualifications and experience, and who will manage the business in the interests of all shareholders,” he said.
“This potential of this company and the shareholders who support it deserves no less.”
The statement said the company’s board renewal process sought to “bring new skills” while “maintaining existing knowledge around the board table”.
Mr d’Almeida said independent directors would make up most of the renewed board, including the chair, as the search for new directors continued.