LONDON (Alliance News) - Troubled mobile technology firm Globo PLC on Tuesday said administrators have been appointed to handle the company's operations by court order following the dramatic fall from grace of the company in recent weeks.
Globo said the administrators from FTI Consulting LLP were appointed following the company having disclosed "certain matters regarding the falsification of data and the misrepresentation of the company's financial situation" to law enforcement agencies in the UK, Greece and Cyprus last week.
Globo also is the subject of an investigation by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority.
The company, which describes itself as an enterprise mobility solutions company, has been wilting in the past fortnight following the publication of a scathing report by US hedge fund Quintessential Capital Management in which it accused the company of "massively overstating" its revenue and profit.
After the report was published, Globo had been defiant in its response to the allegations, saying: "Globo completely refutes all allegations made in this report."
But the weekend after the report was published, the company had a change of heart. After holding a board meeting to discuss the Quintessential allegations, Chief Executive and founder Costis Papadimitrakopoulos "brought to the attention of the board certain matters regarding the falsification of data and the misrepresentation of the company's financial situation".
Together, Chief Financial Officer Dimitris Gryparis and Papadimitrakopoulos offered to resign. Gerasimos Bonanos, the chief operating officer, was suspended from his duties with immediate effect, pending investigations. Globo then revealed that Papadimitrakopoulos had on the day after the board meeting informed it of previously unknown dealings in the company's stock in which he offloaded 42.0 million shares in the company and pledged 10.0 million under a personal loan agreement.
The company's shares remain suspended.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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