"Was there any discussion at the AGM on who tapped the two new Directors?"
austted, maybe I can response to this as I had a chance to chat with Andrew Price along with a group of other shareholders after the AGM and this question was specifically raised.
It seems Andrew has known both of them for a while and was the one to suggest their participation in the Board. Three directors is the minimum number required and it appears there is no plan to increase this number at this stage. However, Andrew did indicate he would like another director to head the audit committee but he said that they have obtained relief from ASX to not have to do this in the short term.
Various other issues were also discussed in that conversation and rather than go into every detail perhaps it may be useful to outline my take on the key points that emerged:
1) The company is still not out of the woods yet but the sense of urgency to fix things is there at the Board and top management levels. This sense of urgency is now being passed down the line within the organisation. Andrew talked about his emphasis for people to think about what they are going to deliver in the next 3 months or 6 months, and not 5-year grand plans.
2) Andrew seems to be the main driver in the company at present behind the attempt to turn the business around and is getting involved at the operational level where necessary. His appointment as Executive Director is an indication of his role as the 'trouble shooter' to help unblock legacy attitudes and practices.
3) As Firsova has indicated in her last post, two of the remaining businesses (Germany and Netherlands) are still unprofitable, so those would be Andrew's focus over the next few months while posted in Europe, which would involve emphasis on cost reduction, sales increase, and cultural change.
4) There is now a firm realisation that it won't be enough to reduce cost once and relax as has often happened in the past, but in order to deal successfully with the paper industry decline, cost reduction and productivity improvement will have to be a continuous process to keep ahead of the competitiveness curve.
5) Apart from now taking a 'fix or sell' approach to all unprofitable businesses, the Board and management are also looking at filling in the gaps in paper sales by organically expanding other lines of businesses, especially 'packaging' (which is showing more sustainable growth and producing much higher returns on investment) and sign and display. Mention was also made of expanding logistics capability of the company into a third party business where feasible.
Overall, the AGM and the follow-up discussion left me with a fairly positive feel about the direction and sense of urgency of the new team at the top. Firsova could be right that we probably have seen the bottom of the sp at PPX... time would tell, as there is still a lot of work to be done. However, the company is expecting return to sustainable profitability in FY 2013/14.
SRS Price at posting:
5.6¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
