Angry shareholders back founders in failed push to oust them from QBiotics board
Angry shareholders have demanded the resignation of two Brisbane biotech executives during a fiery three-hour AGM where the company’s founders faced being ousted from the boardroom.
The two founders of biotech firm QBiotics Group have survived a push to remove them from the board after a fiery three-hour AGM where angry shareholders separately took aim at the chairman and chief executive.
The non-listed company’s AGM on Tuesday in the Brisbane CBD erupted into a series of shareholder interjections, angry over the bid to change the constitution that guaranteed the board seats of Dr Paul Reddell and Dr Victoria Gordon who founded the company 25 years ago.
The vote to remove clause 37 of the constitution was defeated with the For vote coming in at 54.3 per cent and the Against vote of 45.7 per cent, but was still well under the 75 per cent needed which kept the status quo without the need to seek re-election.
Shareholders took aim at chief executive Mark Fladrich and chief executive Stephen Doyle – who both joined last year – over their bid to “strengthen investor confidence”.
They called for the resignations of Fladrich and Doyle or for an extraordinary general meeting with a major flash point the recent sacking of Reddell as chief scientific officer for alleged “serious misconduct”.
Dr Gordon has not been accused of any misconduct and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing on her part.
One frustrated shareholder targeted Fladrich and Doyle saying they thought their attempts at strengthening investor confidence were “fricking hopeless” and another had a shot at the amount of time the chairman spent overseas.
And for the record, Fladrich says he Zooms a lot but Citybeat hears he also spends a fair amount of time in Greece - and by the way he sports a pretty good suntan.
Meanwhile, Toowong-based QBiotics – which has been working towards an IPO and listing (2025 was the last date we heard) – has pretty much mothballed the process, for the time being at least.
Fladrich says they will choose the path that “best maximises value” for the company that discovers and develops novel plant-derived small molecules to treat cancer and wounds.
For the first time Reddell – who has filed an unfair dismissal application with the Fair Work Commission – publicly addressed his sacking saying he absolutely denies the serious misconduct allegations.
He says he has an “unblemished record” and the situation arose after being told by the IT department to clean up the files he’s accumulated over a long period of time.
That amounted, he says, to transferring music, photos and other files that he wanted to keep over a five-day period.
“The allegations that these are critical company files are very hard to sustain,” Reddell says.
“The process of my dismissal I would very strongly argue was flawed. There was no independent investigation. I was not given the opportunity to address why I was terminated.
“They cut my email without notice, staff were told not to speak to or contact me and I had no opportunity to talk to any collaborators I have worked with.”
Fladrich refused to comment directly on the termination because of the Fair Work case but says the transfer of a significant volume of company files outside their secure IT architecture placed scientific data and intellectual property at risk.
“These actions were taken in the context of safeguarding company assets and intellectual property,” he says.
Fladrich says he’s taken the shareholders feedback on board.
We are waiting for the next twist in the QBiotics story with bated breath.
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Originally published as Angry shareholders back founders in failed push to oust them from QBiotics board
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