Strategy
Lighthouse Shareholders Rebel Against Company's Proposal To Quit Stock Market
A majority of shareholders of the Lighthouse Group have voted against the firm's plans to de-list from the London Alternative Investment Market.
Fifty-three per cent, representing nearly 53 million of ordinary shares, voted against the proposal that the UK independent financial advisor network would cancel trading on AIM.
"Looking forward the group will continue to comply with the AIM rules, and the board will continue to respect shareholders' preferences," said David Hickey, chairman of Lighthouse Group.
The proposal to de-list amid a sharp fall in its share price was announced early in July and received heavy criticism from the beginning. One analyst, Paul Mumford, senior investment manager at Cavendish Asset Management and owner of Lighthouse shares as part of his AIM Fund, said: “The Lighthouse Group management clearly thinks that there might not be much of a future for the company once the RDR reforms come into effect. Whether this fear is justified or not, the manner in which they are going about de-listing for AIM is shoddy to say the least, and will disproportionately hurt the majority of shareholders in order to benefit the few."
Lighthouse, however, rebutted any suggestion that some or all of its management wished to take full control of the business and insisted its plans to de-list were in shareholders’ interests: “Since the announcement on 9 July 2012 there has been some speculation that it is the intention of some or all of the group's management to take control of the company. The board confirms that there is no such intention,” it said in a statement on 24 July.
The firm listed in 2000 and its share price, which at the flotation was 160 pence per share, has sunk to around 4 pence.
“The board believes that the perceived value of the group imposed on it by its stock market listing does not reflect the true value of Lighthouse, and distorts the relative value of the group compared to unquoted comparators," Lighthouse said.
If shareholders had voted for the proposal, the firm would have ended its AIM membership on 8 August.
