LONDON (Alliance News) - Gulfsands Petroleum PLC Tuesday said shareholders rejected the resolution put forward at the company's annual general meeting to re-elect former Chief Executive Mahdi Sajjad to the board.
All of the other resolutions were passed, but only 23.4 million votes were put in favour of re-electing Sajjad, representing 31.65% of the votes cast, compared to the 50.6 million votes against the resolution, representing 68.34% of the votes cast. Only 18,250 votes were withheld.
Sajjad had survived an attempt by Waterford Finance and Investment Ltd, Gulfsands' biggest shareholder, to remove him in February, but Sajjad was removed as CEO in April and kept on as a director, something with which he disagreed. Sajjad also claimed he was owed outstanding payments by the company.
The resolution to re-appoint Director Ian Conway was withdrawn by the company, it said.
"On behalf of the board and shareholders, I would like to thank Mahdi Sajjad and Ian Conway for their time as serving directors. Ian remains as an executive with his responsibilities for technical and operational matters. Mahdi leaves the board, and I wish him well in his future ventures," said Executive Chairman Alastair Beardsall.
Following the meeting, the Gulfsands' board has Beardsall as chairman, while Alan Cutler remains as director of finance and administration, according the company's announcement Tuesday. The non-executive directors are Jon Darby, Andrew Morris, Andrew West, James Ede-Golighty and John Bell.
The company previously had said that Cutler would be leaving in the third quarter, and no company spokesperson was immediately available to confirm whether this was still the case.
Gulfsands shares were down 3.8% to 10.10 pence per share on Tuesday afternoon.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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