Edward Sharp, the former chief executive of Radius Plc, has failed in his last ditch efforts to regain control of the struggling Hull-based systems integration company which he co-founded in 1976. Having forced a vote on the companyÆs future, RadiusÆ institutional share holders rejected Mr SharpÆs proposals to give him back control, and Sharp has sacrificed his own job in the process. Mr Sharp had been forced to resign from his position as chairman and chief executive in March 1991 at the request of the then board of directors, but he still retained his shareholding in the company. Having purchased over a million shares in Radius in November 1997, Sharp then invoked his rights as a 10% minority shareholder to call an extraordinary general meeting, at which he hoped to oust the two senior members of the current board, and to re-instate himself and two former directors with whom he has close links. By calling the meeting, Sharp was effectively forcing a vote of confidence in the current board and in a letter to shareholders explaining his actions, he appealed for support and condemned the companyÆs lack of profitability, laying the blame on current chief executive Edward Kelly and executive chairman Michael Roberts with whom he founded Radius. Sharp claims to have been goaded into action by other disgruntled share holders who have been forced to watch the companyÆs earnings stagnate in a market growing by 20% per annum. Radius has indeed performed poorly in the last five years, and following a further profits warning in November last year, Sharp said he was approached by other share holders to take action. In its letter of defense, the Radius board claimed that Sharp, who now owns nearly 14% of the company, was attempting to gain control without making a fair offer for the majority of the shares. As a non-executive director, Sharp has been party to the boardÆs discussions on how Radius plans to improve shareholder value, and he clearly felt the boardÆs ôsignificant initiativesö were inadequate. Following his defeat at the EGM, Mr Sharp has resigned his directorship, knowing that his position had become untenable. This will be an enormous relief to the current board who view the timing and content of this action as extremely disruptive. But although the block votes of the institutional investors went against him, Sharp predicts that there will be changes made at a board, and sooner rather than later. Financial results for the year to December are due next week.
