Payzone Share Discussion Threads

[littlereec] 19/1/2008 12:53

this is the web address for the latest on the the Soap Opera that is Payzone

[lbo] 18/1/2008 11:35

I think the problem is simple. You add a bad business to a very bad business and the Sh1t really hits the fan.

Looks like all the rats are fighting now trying to get off before the ships sinks!

[fatcol] 18/1/2008 09:30

It seems that, as well as being incompetent in the running of the business, Thian can't even sack someone properly. I notice how Nagle states that the events have taken place with 'utter disregard for his reputation' Well, this complete fiasco has taken place with 'utter disregard' for my investment, which is now worth about as much as a used match. Nagle & Williamson are seeking damages - from whom? Thian? Payzone? Of course, this episode will be of major concern to investors, but it will also put a significant dent in the business day-to-day trading. Would you sign a 5 year contract with a company whos' Board is at meltdown and whos' shares have been suspended? Couple the internal politics with the inevitable effects on day-to-day business and Payzone will be worthless on the day the shares are released for trading again. I'm not usually in favour of capital punishment, but...

[danwaits] 17/1/2008 18:16

Report from RTE News website;



The High Court has continued until Friday an interim order restraining electronic payments company Payzone from treating CEO John Nagle and chief financial officer John Williamson as dismissed.

Shares in the company, which was recently awarded the payment contract for barrier free tolling at the M50, were earlier suspended on the London AIM market.

Peter Ward, for the company, told the court today it would defend the case but needed until Friday to prepare its reply to the claims made by both men.

In an affidavit, Mr Nagle, whose payments company Alphyra merged with the UK ATM company Cardpoint to form Payzone last year, claims Payzone chairman Bob Thian is pursuing 'a personal agenda' to deflect attention from the underperformance of Cardpoint and
to 'transfer blame' to Mr Williamson and Mr Nagle.

Mr Nagle claims that the circumstances of his purported dismissal by e-mail on Tuesday night last were 'bizarre' and that there was 'a conspiracy underfoot'' under which his dismissal would be announced as 'a fait accompli' with maximum damage to his reputation.

An announcement to the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning that Mr Nagle and Mr Williamson had 'left the company' and that the reason was 'a breakdown between executive and non-exec (sic) positions' was 'defamatory' of himself and Mr Williamson and was either drafted by non-executive directors or based on misinformation supplied by them, Mr Nagle said.

While he had not to date been physically excluded from the company premises, he feared an effort would be made to do so unless the defendant was restrained by the court.

On Wednesday evening, Mr Nagle and Mr Williamson secured interim court orders from Mr Justice George Birmingham restraining the company from treating them as dismissed and the case was returned before Ms Justice Laffoy today.

In addition to seeking orders requiring the company to retain them in their posts, both men are also seeing orders for damages for alleged conspiracy by Mr Thian and other non-executive directors of Payzone, most of whom are non-executive UK directors nominated by Cardpoint. Mr Nagle said the members of the board had acted in flagrant contravention of the constitutional documents of the company and his contract and with 'utter disregard' for his reputation.

Mr Nagle said he 'utterly rejected' that the company has any 'real or serious' concerns about his management of Payzone's affairs. This was evident as the directors had simply sought to reinstate in Mr Nagle's place the former Cardpoint manager, Paul Saxton, who was himself dismissed just last week.

Mr Paul Gardiner SC, for the men, said an e-mail letter to Mr Nagle at 8.30pm last Tuesday informed him he was being dismissed with immediate effect and with 12 months pay. It also stated that the Payzone board had unanimously, with the exception of Mr Williamson, agreed to the dismissal when Mr Williamson was unaware of any board meeting held on the matter, counsel said.

There was an 'unanswerable' case that the company had breached the men's contract, he said.

Peter Ward, for the company, said his client would be defending the case but needed time to prepare an affidavit. In the meantime, he asked the judge to grant what is known as a 'Fennelly order', effectively an order that Mr Nagle and Mr Williamson would continue to be paid but only carry out such duties as the company directed.

Mr Gardiner resisted a Fennelly order, saying both men sought to continue their work and that the interim order restrained the company from treating them as being dismissed from their employment or removing them as directors.

Ms Justice Laffoy said she would not vary the injunction granted by Mr Justice Birmingham and she adjourned the case to Friday. The company was entitled to an opportunity to address the matters and could renew its application for a `Fennelly order' when the case came before the court again, she said.

In his affidavit, Mr Nagle it had become increasingly clear from September last Cardpoint was not going to meet its projected earnings by the close of the merger deal last month. Alphyra's budgeted earnings during the current financial year remained unaltered.

He had written to Mr Thian on January 14 concerning a dispute of that date between himself and the board about the shortfall. He explained his refusal to take part in a 'roadshow' for potential institutional investors on grounds it would be misleading given the shortfall and financial performance of Payzone.

Mr Thian sought to characterise his concerns as an attempt to 'sweep away' the non-executive directors and much of the Cardpoint organisation, he said. Five of the seven directors of Payzone are non-executive directors based in the UK, four nominated by Cardpoint and one by Balderton, a private equity firm, he said.

He had told Mr Thian he was not interested in 'raking over' past matters and wanted to focus on the best interests of Payzone. The next day, he received the e-mail purporting to terminate his employment. He e-mailed Mr Thian stating he had not been validly dismissed but received no response.

[fatcol] 17/1/2008 16:55

How long will it be before Paypoint offer a ridiculously low sum for this business and the investment houses take it just to be rid of the problem? As usual, the PIs will have no say of any consequence, and whilst the instis can take the hit, many of us will be left seriously out of pocket, whilst the morons responsible have pocketed fortunes. This really is turning out to be the 'betamax' of investments...

[trunner] 17/1/2008 16:34

Latest....
Saxton and Thian back for another dip in the pot- will they be returning the massive pay offs they recieved in DEC. I doubt it.......

[lbo] 17/1/2008 11:46

This was also in the Times and is even more worrying!

"It is also understood that a number of the company's lenders have sought meetings with Mr Williamson to discuss this week's events. Payzone has debts of about €300 million and its lenders include AIB, Royal Bank of Scotland and Rabobank"

I wonder have some of the lenders threatened to pull their banking facilities so they suspend the shares??

[lbo] 17/1/2008 11:39

This company is a fiasco! Balderton could not give away Alphyra so they dump it on AIM and now we see why!

"The row is believed to centre around the release of a trading update to the stock market"

The Irish Times:

Payzone chiefs get order to halt dismissals

Payzone chief executive John Nagle and chief financial officer John Williamson secured injunctions in the High Court in Dublin yesterday preventing the recently formed electronic payments group from dismissing them from their posts

This followed an announcement to the stock exchange by Payzone yesterday morning stating that the two Dublin-based executives had left the company.

Chairman Bob Thian assumed "executive responsibility" at the company with "immediate effect", the statement said.

"John Nagle and John Williamson have created a strong platform for growth at Payzone but the company has now reached a stage of its development where a different set of skills is required.

"There are a number of excellent managers at Payzone and I look forward to working with them to realise the great potential of this business," Mr Thian stated.

Mr Nagle and Mr Williamson went before the High Court at 5.15pm yesterday and were granted three injunctions by Mr Justice George Birmingham.

These restrain Payzone from treating the two executives as being dismissed from their employment and as "having been removed" as directors.

A third injunction was secured restraining Payzone from announcing that the pair had been dismissed or removed as directors.

A full hearing in the High Court is due to be held this morning although legal sources indicated that this could be deferred.

A spokesman for Payzone said it had "no comment to make on the legal proceedings".

He added that the decision to remove Mr Nagle and Mr Williamson was a unanimous one taken by the board and supported by the majority of shareholders.

It is understood that Mr Nagle was informed of the decision to remove him from his position by email on Tuesday night.

Mr Nagle and Mr Williamson told the court that a board meeting held on Tuesday, at which the decision was taken to terminate their employments, was not properly convened.

Under the company's own rules, board meetings are supposed to be held in the Republic, where the company's head office is situated.

It is understood that the meeting took place in Britain.

In addition, they told the court that that their contracts state that they should receive 12 calendar months' written notice of their employments being ended, which has not happened.

The row is believed to centre around the release of a trading update to the stock market.

Payzone was formed on December 5th from the merger of Irish e-payments group Alphyra, which Mr Nagle founded, and British-based ATM operator Cardpoint, which Mr Thian, as executive chairman, led.

It listed on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim) in London.

It is understood that Cardpoint had experienced difficult trading in October and November while Alphyra's business grew.

Mr Nagle is believed to have wanted to issue a trading statement to the stock market in advance of an investor roadshow this week but the board decided against this move.

As a result, Mr Nagle is believed to have declined to participate in the roadshow.

[encarter] 17/1/2008 10:20

"suspended pending the outcome of court proceedings" could be a long job

[farnesbarnes] 17/1/2008 10:15

It just got worse... suspended!


Payzone Suspension of Trading




RNS Number:9728L
Payzone plc
17 January 2008


17 January 2008


PAYZONE plc
("Payzone" or "the Company")

SUSPENSION OF TRADING

Trading in the shares of Payzone plc has been suspended pending the outcome of
court proceedings concerning the positions of John Nagle and John Williamson.
The Company is currently not able to comment on the matter.

Enquiries:

Nominated Adviser and Broker to Payzone

Panmure Gordon Tel: [phone]
Hugh Morgan
Stuart Gledhill

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END
SRSFKOKKKBKDDDD

[lulu74] 16/1/2008 23:45

Well; Saxton is bobs boy and there are reports of a sighting in one of the offices.

[thehiddenagenda] 16/1/2008 18:57

lulu74 - Can you expand on that?

[lulu74] 16/1/2008 18:39

danny678........many a true word said in jest......what crystal ball are you using because there is truth in it.

[thehiddenagenda] 16/1/2008 17:36

It continues to amaze me how Thian always manage to dodge the bullets and blame this whole sorry mess on others! I wonder what sort of salary he will award himself in the position as 'executive chairman'?

[danny678] 16/1/2008 17:18

Can it get any worse ? Saxton will be back next ! Now that would be unbelievable !! The pressure is on Thian & the Execs now to sort this out. Any announcement is surely better than a profits warning. AIMHO & DYOR

[lbo] 16/1/2008 16:01

The Irish Times

Payzone chief Nagle discusses terms of departure
Arthur Beesley, Senior Business Correspondent

Payzone chief executive John Nagle and chief financial officer John Williamson are discussing the terms of their departure from the electronic payments and ATM company, The Irish Times has learned.

The company's shares have lost approximately 33 per cent of their value since its flotation on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in London less than two months ago.

Payzone's listing on December 5th followed a reverse takeover of Blackpool-based cash machine operator Cardpoint by Alphyra, the Dublin-based electronics payments company that Mr Nagle set up in 1989. The shares, which listed at 76p, closed last night at 51p.

As talks continued last night, it emerged that Payzone's board was preparing to install its chairman Bob Thian in the role of interim chief executive.

The chairman of Cardpoint prior to the Alphyra deal, Mr Thian will remain in that position until the appointment of a permanent successor to Mr Nagle. Alphyra's shareholders owned 59 per cent of Payzone after the merger, which was agreed last September.

Amid extreme volatility in international markets, Payzone decided 10 days before the listing to cancel plans for private equity group Balderton to sell half its 67 per cent stake in Alphyra and for Alphyra management to sell half its 32 per cent interest.

This deprived both parties of a significant return, as Balderton had been expected to realise approximately €100 million from the sale and Alphyra management had been expected to realise a little less than €50 million.

The market may be formally notified as early as today of the departure of Mr Nagle and Mr Williamson, his colleague for some 10 years.

Such notification is likely to say that Balderton, formerly known as Benchmark Capital, will retain its stake in Payzone for the medium term.

It is understood that Balderton, which backed Mr Nagle when he took Alphyra off the stock market in 2003, has been under pressure from Payzone's institutional shareholders to lock in for at least six months.

Mr Nagle established a business called ITG in 1989 to provide maintenance services for business telephone systems. Having moved into electronic payments, the company was floated on the stock market in 1997. ITG's name was changed to Alphyra in 2001 and the business was delisted in 2003 when Mr Nagle led a €112 million management buyout with Benchmark's support.

[lbo] 16/1/2008 15:57

Ex-boss hits out at new owners

[fatcol] 16/1/2008 15:18

Nagle & Williamson going is good news, but I'm not convinced that Thian is the right person to take this business forward and restore shareholder value. A wholly unimpresive Board and management team, have cost investors tens of millions. The previous Board and management team were slated for their performance, and yet, they never destroyed the share price in the manner we are currently seeing. Baldertons' undertaking not to sell any shares for six months has nothing to do with supporting the board - it's just pure economics. I predict Thian's reign over Payzone will be short lived, and perhaps when he is replaced with someone capable and committed to driving the shareholder value, we will see some positive movement in the share price Be prepared to hold for quite a while if you are looking to make any money out of this stock.
IMHO & DYOR

[nashwan123] 15/1/2008 09:15

I wondered what happened to Cardpoint. Around 10 years ago I saw this as a company with a future. It's card security/anti fraud system being a potentially lucrative and needed service.As always PIs have been routinely shafted and reading the latest info nowt has changed. Today's RNS is welcome but short on how much cash is actually being generated.The most off putting thing is the 30% equity stake one director is waiting to dump on the market.This will hold the price back for months IMHO. Scandalous!