Six week in the chairman’s seat at Ibrox and it seems that Paul Murray is showing signs of the characteristics that saw Dave King described as a glib and shameless liar by a South African judge.
One of Mr Murray’s first tasks was to retain the company’s listing on the Alternative Investment Market after Nominated Adviser WH Ireland walked away anticipating Mr King’s success at the EGM.
That left the company with 30 days to find a new NOMAD, a process that was unsuccessful and led to the company being removed from the AIM.
Rather than admit that the company had failed to find a NOMAD, a company announcement claimed that de-listing was a decision made by the AIM with the blame pointed at previous directors.
For the avoidance of doubt, as Mr Murray will surely be aware, the AIM has no authority to remove a listed company, the only way that a company can be de-listed is if they have no NOMAD.
On April 2 a statement on the club website said: “On 4 March 2015 the Company announced the suspension of trading on AIM following the resignation of its Nominated Adviser (“Nomad”), WH Ireland.
“The resignation was unexpected, as WH Ireland had previously indicated that it would assist the Company in effecting a smooth handover to a new Nomad following the General Meeting on 6 March.
“During the course of the last month, the new Board of Directors has been working hard, to a tight timescale, with a prospective new Nomad to complete an appointment. Unfortunately, it has become apparent that this will not be possible.
“There are two aspects to the due diligence that Nomads have to carry out before they accept appointment. Firstly, they have to be satisfied with the “fit and proper” status of the Board of Directors of the Company seeking to make the appointment.
“Secondly, they have to be satisfied that there are no reputational and / or historical issues with the profile and nature of the Company seeking to appoint which might adversely impact on the Nomad.
“The prospective Nomad completed its checks on the “fit and proper” status of the existing and the proposed additional director of the Company and confirmed to the Company that it was satisfied on both fronts.
“It then carried out its own assessment of the Company’s profile over the last several years and the issues which had been encountered. We understand this process involved discussions with the Exchange.
“We were advised that, following this process, the prospective Nomad was unable to take up appointment. We also understand that any alternative Nomad is liable to encounter similar difficulties and therefore the Company requires to terminate its listing on AIM.
“This is no reflection on the current Board or on the financial condition or prospects of the Company. It is simply the result of the well documented failings in corporate governance and management of those who previously controlled the Company.
“The Company understands that this resulted in AIM receiving more complaints about the Company than any other company on its Exchange over the last year. We appreciate and understand the difficulties this presented for AIM.”
Despite the spin on the statement there is only one reason that a company is de-listed and that is having no NOMAD. As recently as December last year WH Ireland were happy to take on the company after their previous NOMAD, Daniel Stewart, went out of business.
Explaining the only conditions where AIM are involved in listing Rule 9 of the AIM states: “Where matters are brought to the attention of the Exchange which could affect an applicant’s appropriateness for AIM, it may delay an admission.
“The Exchange will inform the applicant’s nominated adviser and may notify RNS that it has asked the applicant and its nominated adviser to undertake further due diligence.
“The Exchange may refuse an admission to AIM if it considers that:
*the applicant does not or will not comply with any special condition which the Exchange considers appropriate and of which the Exchange has informed the applicant’s nominated adviser; or
*the applicant’s situation is such that admission may be detrimental to the orderly operation of AIM or the reputation of AIM.”
Mr Murray is often described as a former Deutsche Bank high flyer and really should know the workings of the AIM, especially since his latest blazer chasing exercise was on the ‘accountability and transparency’ ticket.
Continuing with the theme of deflection, on the same date Mr Murray told the club website: “We tried everything within our power to have the suspension lifted but it was clear that we would have to pay a price for years of poor corporate governance and financial mismanagement since the IPO. The delisting is down solely to the actions and conduct of past regimes.
“You could say the behaviour of previous directors has poisoned the well with AIM but even so we might have expected a little more understanding from certain quarters. However, I must point out that delisting will have no effect on our overall financial strategy.”
Rather than ‘trying everything within our power’ perhaps Mr Murray should have used his energy identifying a NOMAD prepared to deal with his colleague Mr King. All that was required to continue trading on the AIM is a NOMAD.
With no company auditor, no stock market listing, no word on a share issue or a business plan and no idea of how to pay next week’s wages Mr Murray has his hands full keeping alive his pre-EGM pledges but it seems that transparency and accountability have become early casualties.
With Mr King’s toxic reputation in the city Mr Murray was unable to find a NOMAD, muddying the waters by blaming the AIM for de-listing sounds like the desperate work of someone glib and shameless.
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