Bumpy ride for travel firm chairman

CNG TRAVEL directors had a stormy time as they faced down shareholders for the first time as a public company yesterday.

Chairman Luke Mooney was criticised for his “staggering arrogance” by one unhappy shareholder before feeling it necessary to apologise for his treatment of questioners.

Mr Mooney’s difficult debut was made more complicated by the company’s announcement yesterday that company founder and chief executive Finbarr Power had resigned.

He kicked off the meeting by reading out a brief statement announcing Mr Power’s departure, but signalled that he would confine discussions to topics on the agenda and that he would refuse to take questions on the subject.

A number of small shareholders queued up with tricky queries for the board, including detailed probes of a transaction involving Menolly Homes, a Galway construction company that guaranteed certain CNG loans in return for shares in the company.

The meeting became heated after Mr Mooney attempted to put an end to the debate by offering questioners one-on-one sessions with directors and key advisers after the meeting.

“You’re being deliberately evasive,” said one shareholder, who complained they were being asked to approve a motion on the company accounts that had not been fully explained to them and which they did not understand. “Understanding it is not my problem,” Mr Mooney said.

The chairman’s day went from bad to worse as dissident shareholders inflicted minor victories by defeating some motions on a show of hands. Mr Mooney needed to rely on proxy votes from major shareholders to pass resolutions, most of which received more than 99% support.

There was further bad news as eagle-eyed shareholders interrupted the meeting to force two motions to be revisited on technical grounds. The motions were put to the meeting for a second time after it was pointed out that shareholders had not been given a chance to cast votes against them at the first attempt.

But shareholders hoping for a glimpse of Michael Smurfit, who is a non-executive director of the company, were disappointed as the former paper magnate was unable to attend and sent his son as an alternate.

Those who have watched the CNG share price tumble 70% may have wanted to swap notes with Dr Smurfit, who invested 4 million in the company just before its flotation.