Vote on tooth ’n’ nail battle
Founder in hope of widening his Smiles
OUSTED Smiles Inclusive CEO Mike Timoney will today find out if his efforts to wrest back control of the Gold Coast dental group he founded are successful.
Shareholders in the struggling company will gather at KPMG’s offices in Brisbane this afternoon to vote on whether to remove Mr Timoney and ex-chair David Herlihy as directors or, instead, vote to dump current chair David Usasz and executive director Tracy Penn.
A picture of who has the numbers is far from clear.
That is partly due to the fact funds have long since bailed out of the company, which has seen its shareprice lose 80 per cent of its value in the wake of poor performance, legal issues, and internal boardroom ructions, leaving a fractured shareholding registry.
Mr Timoney and Mr Herlihy have the support of a substantial bloc with a collective holding of 18.78 per cent.
The directors they are trying to remove, including Mr Usasz, Ms Penn and independent director Peter Evans, have 4.77 per cent of the stock.
However, Smiles’ current management also has the backing of a number of jointventure partners and influential stockbroker Morgans, which has advised its clients to vote against Mr Timoney and Mr Herlihy.
Although the majority of votes, including proxies have been cast, not all shareholders have cast their lot in with one of the factions.
Carl Burroughs, who runs Sydney-based Integrated Dental Marketing, said he was undecided and planned to make his decision today.
“I have an ingrained loyalty to Mike (Timoney) but he has not acted honourably and that is why I am struggling,” he said. “There have been shenanigans with contracts and that is why I have not committed yet.”
However, Mr Burroughs said he “probably” would vote for the Timoney group as he believed it has a better plan for the company than current management.
“Adrian King (consultant to Mike Timoney) is instilling a lot of confidence in me,” he said.
Dr Henry Chen, who has more than 3 per cent of shares, said he was in contact with Mr Timoney and Mr Usasz as recently as a few days ago.
He declined to say which way he voted, but said he did split his votes between the camps.
“I want what is best for the company,” Dr Chen said. “I’m backing the people (not the factions).”
1300SMILES managing director Dr Daryl Holmes, who heads up the rival Townsvillebased dental roll-up, declined
to comment when contacted, or specify the size of his shareholding.
Melbourne-based dentist Dr Michael Sawaya, who has 18,000 shares, said he voted against the Timoney camp.
“From what I gather some of the major shareholders seem to have indicated they are backing the current board,” he said. “I have high hopes.”
A spokesman for Mr Timoney said he was “quietly confident” of winning today’s vote.
“We have had positive discussions with shareholders and we are especially grateful of the support shown by the general practitioners in the group,” the spokesman said.
Mr Usasz declined to comment when contacted.