Van Elle board slams “disruptive and damaging” founder
The Board of Nottinghamshire piling company Van Elle has branded its founder and former chairman “disruptive and damaging” in a statement to the London Stock Exchange today (5 December).
The move comes after a public spat which has seen Michael Ellis, who left the company after it floated last year, express concerns over the running of the company – and in particular his desire to see chief executive John Fenton and another director removed from the company.
Ellis, who has a 6% shareholding in the company but is understood to control around a fifth of the firm, is also said to demanding senior independent director Robin Williams to step down and wants shareholders to vote on him returning to the boardroom.
Fenton has since said he is leaving the company due to a serious family illness.
This morning, Van Elle issued a long statement, refutuing Ellis’s allegations, including those he made about staff morale, the failure of the company to undertake an acquisition and the trading performance of the firm. Van Elle also said that Ellis’s actions “could adversely impact the proper succession process for chief executive officer.”
Van Elle has called a meeting for 15 December in London, where the Ellis resolutions will be voted on.
Calling on its shareholders to reject Ellis’s proposals, Van Elle said: “The Board remains disappointed by Mr Ellis’s behaviour and considers his actions to be both disruptive and damaging to the company, its Shareholders and its stakeholders.
“Moreover, the Ellis Statement reinforces the Board’s previously expressed concern that the Ellis Resolutions serve to promote the interests of Mr Ellis and his family, not necessarily to the benefit of the company and its other Shareholders, and yet again demonstrate the failure by Mr Ellis to acknowledge that the company is no longer a private family business in which he has majority control.
“It is very clear to the Board that Mr Ellis still fails to accept that Van Elle is no longer his private family business.”
