Easygroup calls for Easyjet director removal

5th Sep 2011 16:28

Easygroup, the company owned by the founder of budget airline Easyjet Stelios Haji-Ioannou, has demanded a shareholder meeting to demand the removal of Rigas Doganis from Easyjet's board.Easygroup, which operates budget services such as Easybus and Easyhotel and has a large stake in Easyjet, is unhappy with Doganis for voting in favour of the purchase of 35 new aircraft in January, before the company issued a profit warning later that month."That profit warning has since destroyed about a quarter of the company's market capitalisation or some £600m," Sir Stelios wrote. "Had the profit warning been announced before the aircraft order, we believe that the drop in the market cap would have necessitated a shareholder vote for the capital expenditure in circumstances where he would have known that the directors would have failed to obtain such approval." Doganis has been on the board of Easyjet since 2005. He is an aviation consultant and strategy adviser to airlines, airports, banks and governments.Easyjet rejected the proposal for a meeting outright.This is a further unnecessary and costly distraction which is damaging to the company's reputation and undermines investor confidence," the company said. "The board believes that this resolution is not about removing Rigas Doganis as a director of easyJet but a clear attempt by a minority shareholder to inappropriately determine the composition of the board and to override normal corporate governance protocols."---RG