FIRSTGROUP has seen off an attempted boardroom coup after shareholders voted against proposals to oust the bulk of its board, including chief executive Matthew Gregory.
But its victory was far from unanimous, with Coast Capital securing significant support for resolutions calling for the removal of Mr Gregory and chairman Wolfhart Hauser.
Mr Hauser later revealed he would not be standing for re-election at the company’s annual meeting on July 25.
READ MORE: Activist clashes with FirstGroup ahead of crunch vote
The bus and rail giant has been embroiled in a war of words with Coast in recent weeks amid claims by the New York-based activist that its board has presided over a “track record of value destruction and under-performance”.
Coast, which has amassed a near-10 per cent stake in FirstGroup, forced a general meeting of the company, tabling resolutions calling for the removal of six of the 11 board members and their replacement with seven of its nominees.
Each of Coast’s resolutions were defeated at the meeting in London today, but not without a significant degree of protest being shown against the FirstGroup board.
Nearly 30 per cent of the voted shares went in favour of a resolution calling for Mr Hauser to be removed as a director of the company, while 25% supported a proposal to remove Mr Gregory. Coast also saw more than 36% of the voted shares support its resolution to install Steven Norris, a former UK Transport Minister, as a director of the company.
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