I'm not sure anyone commenting here on purging the board has had a hard look at the general talent on Australian boards at small cap level.
I've recently been through the exercise helping a friend extract herself from a significant financial investment in one, and so I've made a study of the sector.
What a bunch of nefarious low brow misfits they are, mostly. A mix of dodgy lawyers and accountants often appearing before the beak for some form of embezzlement. In this one instance they were flogging (read giving away) shareholders assets to another company with related directors and been getting away with it for years. I can see why so many HC posters are deeply cynical and suspicious.
Anyway, compared to that the US board are highly credible. In particular Cheney has a distinguished military career and is embedded in Washington, and we are trialling for a huge military contract. Same with Metz he served as Chief of Staff to the late U.S. Representative Floyd Spence (R-SC) and held staff positions in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Thurman is an ex Congresswoman with deep contacts and a long history on Capitol Hill. Important for lobbying on chemicals regulation.
That's pretty impressive and it's a small team, as I've analysed before their adjusted remuneration is actually a very small percentage of revenue.
To assume that the board take all responsibility for the company results is is just simply silly. They don't go near the day to day operations and nor should they. The performance claims everyone is now complaining about were made by NC and he alone as far as I am aware. Being an extreme Alpha male he dominated the business and message/communication in every respect. Over exuberant and about 6 months behind the reality which is enough to get severely caned by the fickle ASX day traders.
The cold reality is GR has sought an independent report on remuneration and implemented it. Therefore the US insto proxies that really tipped the balance last time into a strike will go with it, there is buckly's chance of a strike 2 . He's also dropped the EC to NEC and also dropped all STI & LTI. So last years message has most certainly been effective.
It may be actually time for shareholders to offer support and encouragement to the board and the new management. Now that's a wild concept... but are we after vengeance or success?
AJX Price at posting:
37.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
