黑洞社区

Former Sweet Group chairman Francis Ives has vowed to quadruple the consultant鈥檚 share price within four years if he is successful in his bid to return as chairman of the firm.

The pledge comes after Ives last week launched an attempt to regain control of the consultant he led for more than 19 years.

Speaking to 黑洞社区 this week, Ives said his target was to return Sweett鈥檚 share price to around 拢1 per share - a level not seen since April 2008, six months after the firm floated on the London Stock Exchange at more than 拢1.20 a share.

The firm鈥檚 share price has crashed to a fifth of that value since then 鈥� it closed at 23.5p on Monday.

Ives, 64, who is still the firm鈥檚 second largest individual shareholder with 4% of the stock, and other disaffected shareholders holding a further 10% of the stock, requested an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) in a bid to get Ives reappointed as chairman last Thursday.

After receiving the EGM application, Sweett Group has 21 days to inform shareholders of the date, time and place of the EGM. The EGM motion requires a simple majority to pass.

Ives said that the EGM move was 鈥渋nevitable鈥� after Sweett Group reported its first ever loss, breached its banking covenants and made losses on foreign exchange instruments in its last full financial year to 31 March 2012.

Ives said he was 鈥渄elighted鈥� by good financial news since then - including a return to pre-tax profit of 拢1.6m in its half-year results and an order book in excess of 拢100m for the first time. However, he said underlying issues remain, particularly the firm鈥檚 鈥渨eak balance sheet鈥�.

He said he had the experience needed 鈥渢o get the firm back on the rails鈥� and his priority would be cutting overheads and financially incentivising staff who contribute to growth. He also proposed an 鈥渋mmediate鈥� financial and strategic review of the business, with proposals put to shareholders within three months.

The board does not support Francis Ives鈥� proposal

Sweett Group statement

He added he would seek to bulk up Sweett rapidly through mergers or acquisitions with other independent consultants so that it can 鈥渂etter compete鈥� with large, multidisciplinary rivals.

Ives will begin trying to persuade shareholders - the majority of whom are current and former Sweett staff - to back the motion in the coming days.

Ives said he has tried to persuade current non-executive chairman Michael Henderson to step aside for him but they have failed to reach an agreement.

He said he would be a 鈥渉ighly-visible鈥� chairman with an executive role.

Ives said further management change was something he would 鈥渓ike to avoid鈥� and he would be 鈥渄elighted鈥� to work with the three executive board members, chief executive Dean Webster, European managing director Derek Pitcher and Asia managing director Kim Berry.

In a statement, Sweett said: 鈥淎s a Plc we pride ourselves in having best practice corporate governance processes and procedures in place for the hiring of new directors to the board through our nominations committee.

鈥淎s such, the board does not support Francis Ives鈥� proposal and we do not consider it to be in the best interest of shareholders. 

鈥淲e will be making further announcements in due course and in the meantime advise our shareholders not to take any action.鈥�

Ives spent a number of months following Sweett鈥檚 announcement of weak results last year trying to attract a new institutional shareholder to invest more capital for the business to grow but this was not forthcoming.

He confirmed his departure from Sweett in 2010 was not amicable as he 鈥渇ell out with the rest of the board over the appointment of a new member鈥�.

He said Sweett has 鈥渢aken its eye off profit, investing in the business and shareholder value鈥�.

He added: 鈥淢y credentials are that I鈥檝e already done the job. I鈥檝e managed this business through several recessions already. Professional firms need a figurehead with an industry profile. You need an executive role because it鈥檚 all hands to the pumps. I have a strong track record in mergers and acquisitions.鈥�