Latest challenge to Nanoco board to be aired at December General Meeting

Runcorn tech firm, Nanoco, has called a General Meeting for December 13, following a requisition last month from shareholders with a 5.6% stake in the group calling for the appointment of Rhys Summerton and Andre Tonkin to its board.
Mr Summerton is a director of Milkwood, and Mr Tonkin an employee.
At the time, Nanoco said Summerton has previously indicated an intention to acquire a significant stake in the company, divest its assets, and convert the company into an investment company, utilising its cash and listing.
Today (November 15), Nanoco agreed to the meeting, but urged shareholders to vote against both resolutions to appoint the Milkwood staff.
Nanoco non-executive chairman, Christopher Richards, said: “Milkwood has given no indication in the Requisition Notice as to the appropriateness of its nominees to be directors of a listed company nor as to the rationale for their appointment.
“Milkwood has a clear and established recent track record of launching activist campaigns against undervalued, cash-rich listed entities, most recently unsuccessfully trying to take control of Downing Strategic Micro-Cap Investment Trust plc, a listed investment trust.
“Mr Summerton, on behalf of Milkwood, has previously in dialogue indicated to the board his belief that there is little inherent value in the company and his intention to convert the company into an investment company.
“He has stated his intention to acquire a significant stake in the company, reduce costs drastically and dispose of any assets at pace, retaining surplus cash rather than returning it to shareholders.”
He added: “In the absence of a clear rationale and taking into consideration Milkwood’s track record and Mr Summerton’s comments, the board believes that the Resolutions are not aligned with the interests of all of the company’s shareholders and would be highly disruptive to the board’s ability to execute its clear strategy to deliver value to shareholders.”
In February, 2023, Nanoco won a $150m from South Korean tech giant Samsung in a long-running intellectual property litigation case. Later, that June, it began moves to redistribute up to £40m of the award to its shareholders.
Urging shareholders to reject the Milkwood proposals, it said the board does not believe Milkwood is acting in the best interests of all shareholders, it added the board is clear in its conviction to return surplus cash to shareholders, having returned £33m of capital so far in 2024, and it has a clear strategy to develop its operating business while seeking to execute a transaction and has already taken extensive action with more to come.
It said the board already has the appropriate mix of experience and industry knowledge to oversee this process and the appointment of the Milkwood nominees would be highly disruptive to the board’s ability to return surplus cash to shareholders.
Nanoco defeated a previous attempt to reconfigure the board in August last year, when more than 80% of its shareholders backed the board.
It followed a general meeting requisition by Tariq Hamoodi who had called on senior management to step down, claiming the Manchester University spin-out company gave misleading information on settlement prospects in its successful litigation with Samsung.
Twelve resolutions were put forward by him at the meeting and were emphatically voted down.