Johannesburg - A former non-executive director of
gold junior Simmer & Jack (Simmers) has called on the company to
seriously apply its mind to the lacklustre performance of the business and
urgently seek ways to unlock shareholder value.
Kevin Wakeford, one of five directors to resign from the Simmers board
this week, said in a statement that Simmers was deliberately attempting to
discredit him as a former director of the company.
Wakeford's comments comes two days after the five directors walked out
and Simmers company asked the JSE to investigate a possible manipulation of
trading in its listed securities.
While Simmers admits that the directors resigned of their own free will,
it said on Monday that four of the five resignations were due to breaches of
directors' fiduciary duties.
The company has requested the JSE to launch an investigation into a
possible manipulation of trading in its listed securities.
It said the request to the JSE, which made on Sunday, was prompted by
Simmers management becoming aware of the existence of a statement which may
possibly constitute false, misleading or deceptive statements, promises and
forecasts.
Besides Wakeford, Baba Njenje, Siviwe Mapisa and Ayanda Sisulu-Dunstan -
all representatives of Simmers' black economic empowerment partner Vulisango
- resigned.
Stuart Murray, who was an independent director who chaired the governance
committee, also resigned but is not believed to be linked with what Simmers
is convinced is a conflict of interest.
Vulisango's unsuccessful attempt to interdict Simmers' acquisition of
Tau Lekoa from AngloGold Ashanti from going ahead has reopened old
wounds.
Simmers and Vulisango were at loggerheads three years.
But Wakeford said Simmers announcement to the JSE on Monday was
"misleading, deceptive and factually incorrect".
Simmers said it addressed the dispute between Vulisango and the company
and the conflicts of interest between the Vulisango directors and the
company arising out of that dispute at its AGM on Saturday.
The company said this "included incorrect information as well as inside
information available only to the governance committee was leaked by
Wakeford which resulted in its being disseminated to selected shareholders
and which may have resulted in unusual trading volumes and share price
weakness as experienced in the past few days".
Information leaked
Simmers said that confidential information was leaked to selected
shareholders "in an attempt to assert Vulisango's interests over that of the
company".
The company said its board had also resolved to investigate legal
remedies available to recover damages from Vulisango, its directors in their
personal capacities and Wakeford in his personal capacity.
But Wakeford argued that Simmers deliberately created the impression
that information was leaked to a broker to undermine the value of the
company and hence I have been reported to the regulatory authorities.
"These actions in my view are an abuse of regulatory institutions and
are a deliberate attempt to discredit me as a former director of the
company," Wakeford said, insisting that the information was not leaked but
openly shared with the nominating shareholder.
He said the information could also not be considered to be market
sensitive nor confidential as it had been discussed by multiple parties and
was not part of a committee minute and did not contain substantive business
information.
Shares in Simmers closed 9.04% or 17 cents firmer at 2.05 rand on the
JSE on Tuesday.
- I-Net Bridge