ASIC’s new Smiles play
THE corporate regulator is taking court action against embattled Gold Coast dental group Smiles Inclusive to force it to release its half-year financial results due more than six months ago.
On March 2, Smiles shares were suspended from the ASX after it failed to lodge its financial report for the six months to December 31. Since, the Burleigh Heads company had repeatedly said it was close to finalising the report.
On Thursday Smiles, to ASX, said the Australian Securities and Investments Commission had served it with documents filed in the Magistrates Court seeking orders for its half-year accounts in line with the Corporations Act. A hearing was set for November 10. Smiles said ASIC had confirmed it would withdraw the case if it lodged its accounts no later than a week before November 10. The company, working on a plan to raise capital and pay back lender NAB more than $12 million, said it expected to be in a position to lodge its accounts before the hearing.
The ASIC move came after Smiles on Thursday moved again to reshuffle its board – this time replacing ex-Morgans executive Peter Evans with one of Pacific Smiles Group’s founding directors.
Mr Evans was the latest in a long list of directors and executives to come and go since it first listed in March 2018.
They included founding CEO Mike Timoney, dumped at an EGM last year, ex-deputy CEO Tracy Penn, who left in 2019, and ex-CFO Emma Corcoran.
Mr Evans joined the board in August 2018 as an independent non-executive director after 30 years stockbroking.
Mr Evans was in charge of a one-man independent committee that co-ordinated last year’s EGM where shareholders voted on boardroom changes, including removal of Mr Timoney.
Mr Timoney and allies including Dr John Camacho had called for the meeting to spill the board after Mr Timoney was removed as CEO following poor financial results. They had criticised Mr Evans for not being independent due to his ties to Morgans, which backed the board during the spill saying it was disappointed with the company’s performance under Mr Timoney.
Smiles said new non-executive director was Dr Genna Levitch, who was an executive director at Pacific Smiles Group from 2001 to 2007. Smiles said Dr Levitch was one of Pacific Smiles’ founding executives, co-director and shareholder in the company.
Smiles said he had developed the strategy to grow the company from three practices with an annual turnover of $5 million to 17 practices generating revenue of $35 million. Dr Levitch had purchased four million shares in Smiles at an undisclosed price.