The London Stock Exchange has found the former board of Anite Group Plc guilty of a breach of Stock Exchange listing rules during the spectacular collapse of the company’s share price in April 1995 from 155 pence to 79 pence. The controversy centers around claims that the now departed directors knew of a deterioration in trading conditions 11 months before the April profits warning and that the company withheld important information and issued misleading announcements. An initial enquiry into activities at former Cray Electronics Plc, the UK software and network integration firm, faltered due to lack of information. But after further developments, a second enquiry was launched and Anite has been contacted regarding the findings. Current Anite chairman Alec Daly was unwilling to talk about the Stock Exchange findings, insisting that the continuing bad publicity has hampered Anite’s ability to win new contracts. But the Stock Exchange has admitted that action would have been taken against the company were it not for the departure previously of the chairman, chief executive and finance directors, Roger Holland, Jon Richards and Jeff Harris. Since the breaches relate to Anite as a company, no action will be taken against individuals no longer employed by the group. Roger Holland staged a 1m pound management buy out in January 97 of the Anite subsidiary Case Technology UK, through the holding company Nileband Ltd. Anite funded the venture to the tune of 4m pounds and added a two year rent free period in its Watford premises. Anite Group Plc reported losses of 50.3m pounds for the year to April 30 and the shares are now trading at just 40 pence.
