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AIM Listed IFA group Lighthouse (LSE:LGT) is to be forced to hold a General Meeting to vote on proposals to boot out Chairman David Hickey and bring back ex CEO Allan Rosengren. This follows Hickey’s failed attempt to get Lighthouse delisted – a move I opposed bitterly.
Hickey has been a disaster for shareholders. With a small holding himself he is grossly overpaid and has allowed PLC costs to escalate badly rather than increasing the dividend as he should have done and could have done given that Lighthouse has stacks of cash and is profitable and cash generative. Rosengren will restore the balance.
At the GM for the delisting 46 million shares were cast Hickey’s way and 53 million against. 29 million shares did not vote. So do not assume that this is a shoe-in. Rosengren will need every single investor in Lighthouse who wants to make money to vote his way. God knows why anyone backed Hickey last time around. But if they were daft enough to do so then they may be daft enough to do so again.
But this is a rare chance to send a boss whose interests are not aligned with those of small shareholders packing and to bring back a boss who – with a 14% stake – has interests very much aligned with those of other shareholders. Those who called this GM (Rock Holdings and Southern Rock Insurance) have 5% between them. And so the good guys are already on c20%. But every vote counts. So – unless Hickey does the honourable thing and walks now, which I doubt he will – when you get papers in early September make sure that you vote:
1. Hickey out
2. Rosengren in.
I am sure that my new pal Roger at the Share Society and others will also be campaigning hard for the good guys. But this is not a given. Make sure you vote.
