Adrian Kelly, who was operations director at point-of-sale wing SP Group, and Michelle Boyce, who was manager of SP’s digital department, both resigned last summer. Subsequently St Ives began legal proceedings for the misuse of confidential information against the duo.
In December, all three parties agreed to a consent order for judgment, or so-called ‘compromise agreement’, before Justice Wyn Williams at the High Court of Justice in London.
Kelly admitted to misusing SP’s confidential information by sending 12 monthly reports containing sales and margin details of customers using the company’s digital printing services, and salary details for 13 key employees of the business, to Mark Lockley. At the time Lockley was managing director at Birmingham-based retail services business Inspired Thinking Group.
Kelly also admitted to discussing confidential SP Group information with Lockley and ITG chief executive Simon Ward.
In March 2011 Kelly downloaded sales and margin analysis documents for SP Group’s entire customer base onto a USB storage device.
Kelly stated that on 28 May 2011 he accepted an offer of employment with ITG. However, this was not due to commence until after the expiry of a 12-month consultancy with Yorkshire-based point-of-sale printer Kolorcraft. Kelly would manage workflow between ITG and Kolorcraft, and the consultancy would predominantly be paid for
by ITG.
Boyce admitted to the misuse of confidential information, including sending SP’s full supplier list and a competitor analysis to Lockley, and to discussing confidential information with Lockley and Ward.
Lockley was a co-founder, with Ward, of ITG. He unexpectedly left the company and resigned as a director in October last year.
Kelly and Boyce have agreed to pay SP Group a total of £90,000 in damages and costs. £30,000 of this had to be paid before Christmas, with the outstanding £60,000 payable in four monthly instalments of £15,000.
PrintWeek attempted to contact all the parties named in the judgment order for comment.
St Ives chief executive Patrick Martell said it had been "a difficult and protracted process". "We have robust procedures that pick this sort of thing up, including an internal audit function. We treat our confidential information seriously, and anyone who misuses that confidential information must face the consequences," he said.
ITG responded to PrintWeek’s request for comment with a letter from its lawyers, which stated: "The consent order to which you refer is not a judgment of the court, but was an order made following a compromise by the parties to the case to end the dispute. Therefore, the contents of the order should not be relied upon as fact.
"One can only presume that St Ives PLC did not believe that they had sufficient evidence to win the case if the matter proceeded to a hearing – otherwise they would not have been prepared to agree to any compromise."
In response, Martell added: "Our prime concern was to stop them [Kelly and Boyce] misusing our information and to determine the extent of the misuse. We were able to get what we wanted and didn’t need to go all the way to court and incur further unnecessary expense."
PrintWeek was unable to reach Kelly, Boyce, Lockley, or Kolorcraft managing director Phil Findley for comment.
INSPIRED THINKING GROUP (ITG) – A CLARIFICATION
We have been asked by ITG to make clear that it was not sued by St Ives’ subsidiary, SP Group Limited, for the misuse of its confidential information. We are happy to confirm that ITG was not a party to the litigation, which involved ex-employees of SP Group Limited. There was therefore no claim against ITG who categorically reject any suggestion of wrongdoing.
