GREG HUTCHINGS
“I am passionate about Lupus”
Working for
Lupus Capital Shareholders
Dear Shareholder,
I provide for all shareholders the text of my statement to
shareholders at the General Meeting of Lupus Capital plc held on 12 February, 2010.
“I am devastated by what has happened at Lupus. I am the sort of person who needs to be proud of his work and is prepared to commit 120% to ensure success. I believe deeply in the difference between right and wrong, fairness and injustice, good and bad and am willing to make personal sacrifices and put my head above the parapet in order to achieve what I believe is the correct thing to do.
In Lupus’ case I resisted the Bank of Scotland because I knew that it didn’t matter to them like it did to shareholders if Lupus unnecessarily wasted up to £16 million in order for the Bank of Scotland to tick the Bank and KPMG boxes and to secure their own position.
I argued against Aviva who, for their own reasons, wanted Lupus to do an unnecessary rights issue at under 15p a share. I was encouraged to do this by some of the fund managers who have now betrayed me.
I also admit to standing up to the people who were either appointed by the banks or influenced by four fund managers, because they regularly and emphatically said “entirely unintentional” contradictory things at public meetings.
All this is clearly not helping me to win a popularity contest with city institutions. It is also at a considerable personal cost in both time and money, however I feel strongly that the many in numbers of Lupus shareholders should be aware of the way Lupus has fallen to its fate and future.
As shareholders you may rest assured that at the operating level you are invested in some excellent people. As the effective founder of Lupus I have acquired good quality companies, integrated them well, set high standards and firm direction for them to grow, found and promoted terrific managers and engendered an entrepreneurial positive spirit within these teams. I had intended that Lupus should continue to be an exciting, dynamic, visionary, growing company. In my opinion, the Bank of Scotland was unperturbed about the possibility of de-stabilising this. Four fund managers, and those they supported, also didn’t appear, I believe, to be concerned at the potential consequences and instead seem to have developed a new 3 year strategy of a “stop Greg at any cost” campaign. This has obviously kept expensive brokers, public relations advisors, lawyers, banks, and turnaround men busy.
I was at the heart of this company so I am sure you can understand my particular feelings that this has been a travesty. Having created an excellent business for shareholders, committed £9 million of my own personal money, spent nearly 6 years of my life focused on Lupus to now find that this company is in effect influenced by a few fund managers who haven’t any of their own money invested, is beyond even a Greek tragedy. They have supported the dismissal of the most motivated management who not only created the company and set the vision but also was able to save it from this sudden economic crisis by immediately reducing the workforce by 29% and by cutting £20 million per annum of costs. It seems to me that they must have a personal reason against me to ignore my track record of building a hugely successful FT 100 company as well as creating Lupus and producing record results. This looks to me like a decision based on either ignoring the facts or personal dislike to so purposefully dispense with somebody who can successfully and reliably acquire, integrate, operate, finance and build companies and teams of management by justifying it with merely two desperate reasons as given. Can you really imagine anyone on their own building a £5 billion company from just £6 million without actively engaging with a board of directors or not having good relationships with shareholders who were willing to contribute £1.7 billion of equity. Those are not genuine business reasons why I couldn’t be on the board or CEO, particularly when even the board, comprising turnaround directors, praised my stewardship and said I did a cracking job.
Frankly, my management teams and you as individual shareholders who have actually been in day-to-day real business situations and invested your own cash, savings and pensions, know better what is required to develop a thriving business.
Make no mistake, this has shown how a few fund managers, with other people’s money, can exercise their power and control. I do not believe they have understood, experienced or tried to run a complex worldwide manufacturing business. They have even been happy to lose the services of directors they enthusiastically voted for just a few months ago and seen them paid off in full. They could even sell their shares tomorrow if they wanted.
I have tried very hard and with my own money to champion what is best for Lupus. Rest assured that with a £9 million personal investment and an 11.3% shareholding I will not be going away so please do not think that this is the end or even the start of the end. We should all be monitoring what this latest new board of directors is doing and what happens to Lupus.
Finally, I would like to thank all of you who have supported me – it has been much appreciated and very gratifying during these difficult times.”
Your ongoing feedback , questions and support are vitally important.
Please contact me via the links within the web site if you have any questions.
Bulletin Board | February 2010
gregegm.com | Saturday, 13 February, 2010
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