Shares in office manufacturer tumble after CEO shakeup

DIRTT falls 18% as 70-year-old founder replaced

CALGARY • Calgary-based Shares in

plummeted nearly 18 per cent on Tuesday after it made the surprise announcement its board was replacing its 70-year-old founder as CEO.

A morning company press release presented the changes as part of succession planning with Mogens Smed staying on as executive chairman — but on a conference call, Smed said he wasn’t part of the decision.

“I just found out about this on Friday,” he said in response to a financial analyst’s question.

“I’ve got absolutely no job description or anything yet so I haven’t really got a clue what it is that I’ll be doing, to be clear, OK? Hopefully that will get settled in the next couple of weeks.”

Stock in the office interior design and manufacturing company (TSX:DRT) closed at $5.53, down $1.21 or 17.95 per cent on Tuesday.

In its news release, DIRTT said Smed will focus on its network of sales partners, as well as key business development initiatives, reporting to the CEO. Smed said he “ain’t going away,” and will take on any task assigned by the board.

Lead director Steve Parry, whose title was previously chairman, wouldn’t be specific on the call about what led to the appointment of Michael Goldstein as interim CEO but stated it was not related to any financial reporting issues.

“We started to see some of what I would call cracks in the governance process in the company,” he said. “This is a very proactive board and