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The leadership of Comptoir Group PLC faces a power struggle, as the Lebanese-restaurant operator announced on Tuesday that a key shareholder is demanding the resignation of the firm's chief executive officer and its chair.
The London-based firm said it has received a letter from Founder & Creative Director Tony Kitous, requesting that the two executives resign. Kitous holds a 48% stake in Comptoir, with a holding of 58.4 million shares.
Should the pair not resign as directors, Kitous has stated he would vote against the re-election of Chair Richard Kleiner at the company's annual general meeting on Thursday.
‘His proxy form giving effect to the content of the letter has now been received by the company,’ the firm noted.
Kitous has also voted against resolutions to be proposed at the AGM giving directors the authority to allot shares in the company, the company said.
Kitous has suggested he would call a general meeting to request the removal of Chaker Hanna as CEO, and proposed the appointment of a new non-executive chair and non-executive director.
Comptoir said that the group of independent directors, consisting of Kleiner, Hanna, and finance director Michael Toon, have sought to actively engage with Kitous to resolve matters and ‘are disappointed that Mr Kitous has declined to respond to requests’.
‘The independent directors believe the comments and proposals by Mr Kitous within his letter are being made to promote his own financial gain and the actions proposed are to the detriment of all independent shareholders,’ the directors said.
The directors also assert that Kitous has offered ‘limited input into day-to-day operational and financial decisions’ within the company, and does not have its best interests in mind.
‘The independent directors believe that if Mr Kitous is successful in removing Mr Kleiner and Mr Hanna from the board, he may lose the support of the senior team and seek to use the net cash of the company for his own personal gain and, over time, could seek to de-list the company from AIM without prior consultation with independent shareholders or appropriate fair value consideration being paid to independent shareholders.’
Comptoir also shared its expectations for a ‘record’ financial performance in the first half of 2022, anticipating revenue of £14 million, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £1.6 million and pretax profit of £800,000.
This would be more than double the revenue of £5.7 million in the first half of 2021, and a swing to profit from a pretax loss of £1.2 million a year prior.
Shares in Comptoir closed down 2.3% to 8.77 pence each in London on Tuesday.
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