Stoush over, Polartechnics to hunt for profit

Victor Skladnev won't talk about last Friday's extraordinary general meeting of Polartechnics (ASX:PLT) shareholders.

Referring only to the "disruptions" -- in which erstwhile chairman Richard Opara tried and failed to replace Skladnev as CEO -- Skladnev is keen to put the past behind him and focus on driving profits into the company.

He told Australian Biotechnology News that Polartechnics was getting back to business and in particular, would focus on communication to drive product sales.

"We've had some disruptions, as you would imagine, and that always interferes with everything from staff morale, through to customers feeling comfortable about buying products from you," said Skladnev. "Now that's behind us, we're going to refocus."

Skladnev said the company had a suite of products which were capable of making good profits. "It's a question of adjusting the resources to get those products out as quickly as possible," he said.

Polartechnics would focus on communication so that consumers become more aware of the company's products, particularly because the products are providing a high-tech solution to problems people didn't know they had, said Skladnev. The company's products include a cervical cancer test, a melanoma test and cosmetic laser machines.

"We're back to communicating that process, searching for where the opportunities are for the technologies, where they're best suited given limited resources," he said.

"If we had tonnes of money we would do big splashes, but with the kind of resources we've got we've got to search very hard to get the lowest hanging fruit, as they say."

But while Skladnev said that the team was very keen to get sales up and is proud of the company's products, he also said that the company needs to get enough "breathing space" to get on with the job.

"But do I think life is as simple as that? No, there will be other issues of course," he said.

Rejection

In June, Opara served a requisition on Polartechnics to convene an EGM, proposing that Polartechnics CEO Victor Skladnev and Robert Hunter be removed as directors and Opara and Leonard Firestone be appointed instead.

At last Friday's EGM, Polartechnics shareholders rejected each of the resolutions put forward by Opara. Skladnev refused to comment on the meeting, deferring comments to the company's PR, who would only be identified as a spokesman for the company.

"Essentially, excluding Opara's vote, shareholders voted about 98 per cent against his resolutions and less than 2 per cent for his resolutions. So they were fairly strongly rejected," the spokesman said.

"I think people are frustrated. I think the performance of the share price has not been good and the chairman [Robert Hunter] acknowledged that in the meeting. He acknowledged that people were disappointed and frustrated with the business generally and basically he made a number of undertakings to turn things around, which he already has started to do in terms of better financial discipline within company.

"He's playing a very hands-on role in terms of the ongoing management of the business and he has also already started looking for new board members, which is another issue about which the shareholders have raised concern.

"Obviously it's very difficult to attract quality board candidates when the company is in turmoil, with someone trying to oust the chairman and the CEO and trying to seek control of the company. It's hoped with this now behind us that process of appointing very strong new candidates for the board will be made much easier, and that's a priority for the chairman going forward."

Commercialisation

The spokesman said shareholders were also concerned about how quickly Polartechnics' products could be commercialised, and about the company's sales and marketing strategy.

"The company has excellent products, I don't think anyone's doubted that, but the issue is to go from an R&D phase to a commercial phase, and to do that in a way that maximises revenues for the company and therefore hopefully ends up in the company being profitable sooner rather than later," he said.

"As Rob Hunter said on the day, more resources need to put into sales and marketing and that's what the company is currently looking at doing. They are also looking at which markets they go into. Some products aren't suited to the US, others need to be modified.

"One of the issues that was raised is better communication to the market and shareholders, and I think part of that function is that there needs to be a dedicated point of contact for publications like yours. We need to keep the information flow more consistent and address some of the issues head on."

Shareholders took swipes at Opara and the existing board, excluding the chairman. Opara -- who didn't attend the meeting -- was described by one shareholder as a "gutless wimp", the spokesman said.

"The atmosphere was that shareholders are very frustrated and disappointed with the company, but they're also very annoyed that the EGM had been thrown on them, and that Opara had tried to do a backflip and pull out of it at the 11th hour -- particularly when there's an AGM coming up in a couple of months' time. "It really was at enormous expense to the company and shareholders to have that meeting, and at the end the vote was pretty conclusive."

In a letter to Hunter on August 5, Opara said he believed that the EGM was unnecessary in view of the upcoming AGM. Polartechnics went ahead with the EGM, believing that it would be illegal to cancel it. In the letter, Opara withdrew his nomination for a board position, as well as that of Len Firestone.

"I reiterate my belief that Polartechnics needs a new, commercially-experienced CEO... at this critical time, and an experienced board guiding it," Opara wrote. "I would be particularly happy to see appropriately experienced women joining the board, as so much of the company's efforts affect the wellbeing of women.

"Let me assure you once again that my actions so far have been taken in the best interests of the shareholders and the company. PLT has some excellent medical devices and I think there is a promising future for an improved TruScreen and other PLT technology, as long as they are properly commercialised."

At press time, Polartechnics was trading at AUD$0.28.