Blarney chief can expand board of Meadows & Byrne

The chief executive of the company which owns home furnishings and accessories store Meadows & Byrne is entitled to exercise a 51% voting right to increase the number of directors on the firm’s board, the High Court has ruled.

Freda Hayes, CEO of Blarney Woollen Mills Group, which merged with Meadows & Byrne, has been in dispute with three other directors over whether her shareholding amounted to a majority stake for the purpose of increasing the number of directors.

Ms Hayes contended she enjoyed 51% of the voting rights at board meetings by virtue of her ownership of ordinary shares and a single special share.