The civil war at struggling Gold Coast dental group Smiles Inclusive could result in the ouster of chairman David Usasz

The civil war now raging inside a struggling ASX-listed dental group could result in a major shake-up, including the ouster of the chairman, who only took on the top job this week.

The civil war now raging inside struggling Gold Coast dental group Smiles Inclusive could result in a major shake-up.

CIVIL WAR

The civil war now raging inside struggling Gold Coast dental group Smiles Inclusive could result in a major shake-up, including the ouster of chairman David Usasz, who only took on the job this week.

Company founder and former CEO Mike Timoney, along with ex-chairman David Herlihy, announced plans on Wednesday to spill the board at an upcoming EGM.

They hope to turf out Usasz and director Tracy Penn while seeking shareholder approval to appoint paediatric dental specialist Dr John Camacho, an investor and top performer in the company.

Timoney and Herlihy, who plan to stay on the board in non-executive roles, control about 18 per cent of stock, making them the biggest investors.

They think their putsch has the backing of 35 to 40 per cent of all investors, including a majority of the 56 dental practices in the loss-making group, which has tanked since floating in April last year.

Timoney, who was sacked as CEO in February, said he was “extremely disappointed with the corporate governance and performance of the current board’’.

He and Camacho also noted the lack of healthcare industry experience among top figures such as Usasz, a former PricewaterhouseCoopers partner who previously spent time on the boards of Garda Capital, Ambre Energy, Cromwell Corporation and others.

New CEO Tony McCormack, an ex-PwC player and AACo chief operating officer, similarly has no health sector background.

Critics allege that Usasz helped bring on board quite a few of his business associates, including McCormack, former CFO Paul Innes and ex-Morgans boss Peter Evans.

BELOW EXPECTATION

Usasz, a founding director of Smiles Inclusive who controls just 2.9 per cent of the stock, declined to chat when City Beat rang on Wednesday.

But, in an ASX announcement, the company slammed the past performance of Timoney and Herlihy as “well below expectation’’ and made clear that it would fight the rebellion under way.

“Mr Timoney has failed to elucidate any clear or compelling plan to improve the company’s performance, either as CEO or subsequently,’’ the statement said.

“Under Mr McCormack’s leadership the company has taken a number of important steps towards improving the performance of its business and repairing relationships with key stakeholders in the short time since being appointed CEO.’’

In an ill-fated attempt to head off the EGM, Usasz and Penn offered to resign if Herlihy left too and McCormack took a board seat. But Timoney knocked that back, leaving the two camps at loggerheads.

Meanwhile, with $50 million in capitalisation wiped out, the company remains under a cloud, suffering a $1.6 million half-year loss as NAB waived breaches of loan terms.

Full-year losses could hit $1 million and the share price is far off the $1 issue price. It closed yesterday at just 17 cents.

ALL FIXED UP

Corporate Travel Management boss Jamie Pherous said yesterday his personal investment company, holding more than $500 million worth of stock, had been reinstated by ASIC.

That followed an embarrassing blunder which saw the entity deregistered for failure to pay annual fees. Not a good look when the regulator seizes your fortune by default!

TATTS WIN

It’s more of the same at Tattersall’s Club, where president Stuart Fraser and his team were narrowly re-elected on Tuesday night after the bruising debate over allowing women to join as members.

Fraser & Co won 1047 votes, defeating the ticket lead by barrister Rick Green, who pulled in 908 votes.

Funnily enough, in the annual report Fraser pointed to “a clear mandate for change’’ to welcome females even though it only squeaked by with a 37 vote margin.