Klippan Paper chairman Jan Bernander and his team lost out to the voting will of Inveresks shareholders at the firms AGM last Friday (29 June).


Inveresk group finance director Gerard Cassels said the result showed that shareholders had every confidence in chairman Ken Minton, and that there was a definite conflict of interest with Klippans intentions.


Cassels said that Bernander and his representatives dominated the
questioning at the AGM, forcing several issues to go to a vote of shareholders.
These included the proposal for the election of Bernander and his associate, Alan Walker, to the non-executive board of directors, and the proposal by Inveresk to elect Alan Cole to the board.


Bernander was rebuffed on all counts, with Cole being successfully elected.
At the AGM, new chairman Minton announced a series of changes to the management structure, with the aim of reducing the
companys debt and improving profitability.


The business will now be organised into four profit centres, each with its own chief executive who will
be responsible for performance.
The company also hopes to save at least 1m a year by either cutting or re-
negotiating the purchase of its external services.


Minton said performance had improved over the first six months of the year, but expected an overall loss. He also expected the second-half results to reflect improvements.


Story by Andy Scott