Stanford loses fight to oust Redbus executives
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Your support makes all the difference.Cliff Stanford, the internet entrepreneur who once claimed he'd be "bigger than Branson", yesterday lost his fight to gain control of Redbus Interhouse, the internet hotels company he helped to found.
Shareholders at the emergency general meeting yesterday, requisitioned by Mr Stanford, rejected his plans to oust the three top executives.
Announcing his defeat on his campaign website, Mr Stanford hailed the result as "a bad day for all shareholders" with only a third of the votes cast in support of his plans. He controls 29 per cent of Redbus.
The flamboyant businessman, who made £30m from the sale of Demon Internet, had proposed investors should ditch Redbus' chairman John Porter – son of the disgraced ex-Westminster council leader and Tesco heiress Dame Shirley Porter – along with the managing director Kevin Neal and finance director Carl Fry. Once the clearout had taken place, Mr Stanford planned to take over as Redbus' chief executive and install his former Demon colleague Roy Bliss as chief operating officer. Mr Stanford also hoped to reinstate Tony Simkin as Redbus' finance director and bring in Dan Wagner, the founder of MAID, as non-executive chairman and Peter Randall, the former chief operating officer of WorldOnline, as a non-executive director.
Mr Stanford, who resigned as the deputy chief executive of Redbus in March after a boardroom bust-up over strategy, would not rule out making a bid for the tiny business. But a spokesman said no offer was imminent and Mr Stanford may even consider selling some of his investment. He flew out of London last night to return to his holiday home in Malaga, Spain.
Mr Porter, who controls about 27 per cent of the company, said: "We would welcome Cliff delivering value for shareholders rather than destroying value." He added that independent shareholders voted four to one in favour of keeping the current management team.
The company yesterday revealed the acceleration in sales seen early this year had continued with sales in July up 63 per cent up on the same period last year. "This continues the strong trend set in June," Mr Porter said, when sales growth was running at 41 per cent.
He believes Redbus, which has £9m of cash, can continue to operate without needing to raise fresh funds.
Shares in Redbus rose 0.25p to 6.5p, to value the company at £9.8m.
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