The chairman of the AFS Group has moved to end speculation regarding the employment of the company’s chief executive, Peter Daly, stating the board is not planning to oust him.
AFS chairman Barry Stephen confirmed an AFS board meeting was held earlier this week though said the meeting was not to discuss Daly’s ousting but to focus on the future direction of the company.
“That was not the case … we just had a planning day planned,” Stephen told InvestorDaily.
“It was a normal [discussion] we were focused on that all day Tuesday.”
Daly and the ASF board have faced pressure to make changes to the company, since last December when founder AFS shareholder and ex-company director, Peter Conacher, called for Daly’s removal as chief.
In a letter to AFS shareholders in December, Conacher called for Daly to be removed due to his “abysmal” track record as leader.
“[Daly], to my recollection, has not implemented one strategy that has made money for the business,” Conacher said in the letter.
Asked whether Stephen or the board has held talks with any shareholders regarding Daly’s position as chief, Stephen said he has “regular communication” with the company’s 60 or so shareholders.
Stephen would not make any direct comment on whether he has communicated with shareholders over Daly’s position as chief.
“I have regular communication with them, and if they have issues they tend to bring it my attention. We discuss them openly,” he said.
“[It’s] business as usual basically and I’ll be providing a [company] update as is my want and it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment on that before telling shareholders.”
While Stephen provided little detail as to the future of the company, he said AFS remains off-the market in terms of a sale.
He said 12 months ago when the takeover offers cooled, the board decided it would not entertain any further offers.
“We wasted the best part of a year with takeovers that never materialised,” he said.
