Andrew Price has been sacked with immediate effect by Paperlinx, the company he waged a long battle with to get on the board, finally succeeding as CEO 17 months ago. The Paperlinx share price dropped by 30 per cent on the news, down to 2c from 3c. Five years ago it was 75c, it plummeted to 10c in 2012 and has been trending downwards ever since. His sacking comes two months before the end of his contract, and halfway through a 90 day strategic review of non-ANZ operations that the paper giant is undertaking with ‘all options on the table’ from buying up companies to selling off overseas assets.
No reason has been given, the company issued a terse statement to the ASX, in which it said that chairman Robert Kayle would assume the CEO’s duties until a replacement has been found. Price’s ousting is despite Paperlinx six months ago reporting 31 per cent smaller losses of $63.6m, 71 per cent lower EBIT losses of $7m, down from $24.2m in 2013, and historically low debt. The company which owns Spicers and Daltons in Australia has been haemorrhaging cash for years. Price was the ex-Stream Solutions boss who sold out and then decided to take on the paper giant believing he could turn it around.. Paperlinx says, “The board believes the group will benefit from new leadership as it continues to evaluate all strategic options as part of the strategic review”. As a result of the review, Paperlinx last week sold its Canadian arm, Spicers Canada, to Central National-Gottesman for $65m. The company now says it ‘is in discussions with several interested parties which may result in the sale or restructure of part or all of its European operations’, and is also considering capital raisings or capital restructuring. Among Price’s last statements before getting the chop he said European paper orders had ‘fallen more than expected in the first half’ of FY15 and prices were ‘at their lowest in living memory because some of the new entrants to the supply chain have destroyed pricing’
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