Opus Group CEO Richard Celarc has revealed his intention to retire as CEO of the company when Opus holds its annual general meeting scheduled for May 2017.
Celarc has served in the role since March when he took over from Cliff Brigstocke, who left the company to become chief executive at Blue Star. Celarc was the co-founder of Ligare back in 1979, which was the core business of Opus.
However, Celarc will not be leaving the company entirely, and has agreed to stay on with Opus as chairman of the board of directors and as a senior advisor for a three year period following the end of his current tenure in May.
Celarc tells Australian Printer he has chosen to step down to make time for family.
"Announcing my retirement from group CEO in 2017 is to facilitate the search for a successor to take the group forward, but also for me, it is a pathway to fulfil a long standing wish to find a better work life balance and for once to put my family first," he says.
"I can also tell you that my passion for the industry has not waned and my role as chairman will continue, working away in the background ensuring we have happy customers, staff, shareholders and suppliers."
Celarc was considered a supporter of a debt restructure and recapitalisation deal with Hong Kong printer 1010 Printing Group which saw it take over 61 per cent of Opus.
The company says, “Since the recapitalisation and under Mr Celarc’s leadership, Opus has paid fully franked dividends of 14 cents per share out of operating profits including those generated through the sale of non-core businesses (COS Printing and Cactus).
“Now that the Opus Group has established a firm and focused foundation from which to move forward, the board of directors will commence the search for a chief executive officer which will lead Opus into its next phase of growth. Announcement of the appointment will be made in due course.”
Shortly after revealing Celarc’s retirement, Opus declared it would repurchase up to 20 million of its shares.
If approved, the on-market buy-back will commence on December 9 and will remain open until the earlier of December 8 next year or when 20 million shares have been bought back.
The company’s largest shareholder, 1010 Printing Group and the company’s second largest shareholder, Celarc have both indicated they will vote in favour of the move.
If implemented, this will see both shareholders participate in the buy-back and sell more than $9m of their shares to the company at $0.48 per share.
The buy-back is subject to shareholder approval and the company will seek this during an extraordinary general meeting to be held on December 8, 2016.
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