The revolving door at Investorfirst continues to turn, with strong speculation the company's chief executive, David Spessot, has left the group.
An email sent to InvestorDaily claimed Spessot was "walked" from the listed financial services company's premises late yesterday.
The email said he would be replaced by company board member and non-executive chairman Jason Entwistle.
It is not known on what grounds or why Spessot was made to leave the company, with calls to Entwistle not returned by InvestorDaily's deadline.
According to Investorfirst's profile on the Australian Securities Exchange, the company has requested a trading halt pending an announcement.
Spessot's alleged departure is the fourth high-profile exit for Investorfirst in 2012 and comes just days before he was due to be formally appointed as Investorfirst company chief and managing director in October.
He has held the managing director role with Investorfirst since March this year following the exit of the company's former chief executive, Darren Pettiona.
In July, Investorfirst chairman Otto Buttula and senior non-executive director Robert Bishop quit the firm.
Earlier this month, internal changes and costs associated with the company's Hub24 investment platform contributed to Investorfirst's $30.5-million consolidated net loss after income tax for the full year to 30 June.
"Since the end of the 2012 financial year, the company has undertaken a comprehensive review of its cost structures and has moved aggressively to right-size the business," the company said in its preliminary final report to 30 June.
"Currently, annualised cost savings of $2.2 million have been identified and [the costs] are in the process of being removed from the business. We expect to extract further savings over [full-year 2013]."
The listed company's full-year 2012 result was affected by the closure and write-down of its ATG business, which cost the company a $2-million impairment charge.
It also posted a $14.7-million impairment charge for Hub24 due to slower-than-expected "commercialisation" as a result of a change in the regulatory structure. Market volatility also contributed to the platform's transition of funds under advice, the company said.
Investorfirst also incurred costs in establishing its Melbourne-based full service stockbroking business, with weaker-than-expected stockbroking and corporate advisory volumes, caused by poor market conditions, and slower-than-expected client "on-boarding" resulting in a $2.5-million impairment charge.
