A boardroom battle has broken out at a leading Cumbrian company as shareholders are calling for its chairman to be removed.
PFK will hold an extraordinary general meeting on November 29.
Unhappy shareholders want to see chairman Bernard Wharham removed from the role, and also force non-executive director Stephen Dunn to step down from the board.
The disgruntled shareholders claim the existing board ‘has no personal interest in maximising the assets of the company’.
The coup is led by 80-year-old Robert Calrow, a major shareholder in PFK.
The former stockbroker, who has an OBE, wants to be appointed to the board, following a failed attempt to join the board earlier this year.
PFK is said to have cash assets of around £4.5 million and a valuable property portfolio.
They are calling for the removal from the position of chairman Bernard Wharam, and also from his position on the board of non-executive director Stephen Dunn.
In a letter to shareholders, Mr Calrow, of Bolton, claimed board members have 500 company shares between them — out of a total issued of around 320,000 — which is “indicative of a board who do not have their future vested in the company and have no personal interest in maximising the assets of the company and utilising them to increase shareholder value”.
He and his family have more than 15,000 shares between them.
He said: “I wished to join the board to enable me to utilise my long term corporate experience for the benefit of the company and to assist the board in formulating and then implementing a clear plan to maximise the company’s assets and potential.”
Mr Calrow was a senior parter of James Sharp & Co, Stockbrokers, who it is believed act for a number of PF&K shareholders.
Four board members — not including Mr Wharam and Mr Dunn — and described as independent, said they would advise other shareholders to vote against the proposed changes.
They said it was not unusual for directors to hold a relatively small number of shares in a company, and that opportunities for any of them to buy some had been “relatively rare”.
They added: “Shareholders should rest assured that the current directors have and will continue to operate the business to protect the various strong assets in the ownership of the company but always in the best interests of shareholders and to maximise shareholder value.”
Penrith Farmers’ and Kidd’s made a profit before tax — excluding property revaluations and dispersals — of £125,120 in 2020, compared with a loss of £241,958 in 2019.
This was its first year in profit since 2014.
The firm’s shares were selling at around £23 each in September, having been making more than £32 in 2018.
