Secretive billionaire faces court in Stobart civil war
BOSSES at Stobart Group will appear in court this week over its ousted founder’s failed bid to replace the firm’s chairman with secretive businessman Philip Day.
Billionaire fashion boss Day – who separately owns retail group Edinburgh Woollen Mill and clothing chains Peacocks, Jaeger and Austin Reed – is due to be called as a witness as part of proceedings, it has emerged.
Stobart, which owns Southend Airport, is suing Andrew Tinkler, who co-founded the business but was fired in June amid a bitter row over how the company was run. The firm claimed Tinkler’s bid to eject chairman Iain Ferguson – who narrowly survived the vote – destabilised the company and was a breach of his fiduciary duties as a director.
Serving directors including chief executive Warwick Brady and Ferguson will appear this week as witnesses in what is expected to be an explosive court battle.
They are to be quizzed over transferring shares to a trustee before a vote which, it is claimed, then enabled them to fend off Tinkler. Stobart claimed it moved shares so it could pay staff bonuses in company stock.
However, emails and phone messages disclosed last month appear to suggest the directors in fact discussed using these shares to swing a vote in favour of Ferguson.
In one WhatsApp message in May, Brady said: ‘...so we need to move treasury shares into the employee benefit trust so we can vote them!’ Day is expected to be called the following week. Meanwhile, in a separate legal drama, Day is expected to clash with former directors of the Jaeger fashion chain tomorrow. Employment tribunals scheduled to begin in London could help shed light on the inner workings of his secretive empire. His Edinburgh Woollen Mill group swooped on Jaeger last year after the chain collapsed. But at least five complainants allege they are still owed money from the newly resurrected business with claims believed to total up to £1 million.
The tribunals could add detail to the period leading up to the chain’s insolvency through to its subsequent resurrection which until now has been largely shrouded in mystery.
During that period there was heated speculation about the identity of the buyer, which eventually emerged as Day.
A representative for Jaeger was contacted to comment on the tribunals but declined.