Under fire Premier Foods boss Gavin Darby narrowly survived a campaign to oust him at the group’s AGM this week, but activist investor Oasis Management has vowed to continue its campaign for change at the Batchelors and Mr Kipling owner.
On Wednesday Darby won the motion to re-elect him to the board by a margin of 58.9% to 41.1% following a fractious shareholder meeting in London.
Oasis, which had been publicly calling for Darby’s head and built a stake worth 17.3% in the run-up to the event, blamed major shareholder and Premier’s strategic partner Nissin Foods for Darby’s survival.
Oasis stated: “A majority of Premier Foods’ top independent public equity shareholders have voted against the re-election of Gavin Darby.
Gavin Darby has survived Premier AGM vote but he must do better – and fast
“The message from today’s huge negative vote could not be clearer - Gavin Darby has no credibility and he should step down immediately. If he is unwilling to resign, we urge the other directors to discharge their duties and act in the best interests of the shareholders as a whole to remove him.”
During the meeting, former Premier Foods chairman David Beever spoke up on Darby’s behalf, but former Premier non-exec director Charles Miller Smith suggested new leadership was needed at the group.
A number of media commentators, including The Times’ Alistair Osborne, The Telegraph’s Ben Marlow and The Mail’s Alex Brummer, also this week backed Oasis’s call for a change at the top.
Earlier in the morning, Premier announced first quarter sales growth had slowed to 1.7% from 7% in the previous quarter, representing 4.5% growth over the first six months of 2018.
Sales growth was driven by Batchelors and Mr Kipling, though branded grocery sales fell 1.5% in the quarter.
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