LONDON (Alliance News) - New World Oil and Gas PLC Thursday released a statement that said the New World Oil Action Group, which is currently fighting to change the board of the company, has reduced its stake in the company but said it cannot verify the information.
The company and action group have been sparring throughout 2015, and back in September the action group released an open letter to propose the nomination of three new directors to the board at the company's forthcoming annual general meeting to take the company in a completely new direction - away from oil and gas and into the medical technology market.
On Thursday, New World Oil released a TR-1 form from the action group that is likely to cause further confusion between the two parties. A TR-1 form is used by shareholders to inform a company when they have sold or bought shares to clarify the stake they hold.
The form, which New World Oil said it received last Thursday, states New World Action Group lowered its stake on October 6 from 605.9 million shares to 558.4 million shares, giving it a current stake of 12.16%.
The action group represents a band of New World Oil shareholders, led by Benjamin Turney who released the open letter in September. Turney is a writer on investor website Shareprophets.
"The board of New World announces that on October 8, 2015, the company received the following TR-1 notification which is set out below without amendment. The company has received and announced similar TR-1 notifications from Matthew Benjamin Turney previously and has asked for, but not received, clarification of the arrangements between the parties referred to below," said the company in a statement.
"At the present time, the company is unable to verify the information contained in this TR-1 notification," it added.
The open letter released by Turney on behalf of the action group on September 11 had said the group held a collective 11.04% stake - below what Thursday's TR-1 form suggested, implying the group's shareholding had risen from 11.04% to above the current 12.16% in the past month.
However, the stake held by the group may fluctuate as members join or leave. The TR-1 form lists 46 individuals as members of the action group that holds that 12.16% stake.
Regardless of its exact holding in New World, the action group is looking toward a forthcoming annual general meeting, the date of which is still unknown. That meeting will be where the action group will propose a complete overhaul of the board.
Turney, writing on Shareprophets on Thursday, said New World Oil had decided to "smear" the action group using the TR-1 form and he stressed he submitted the form last week as per AIM rules.
The action group is pushing for the annual general meeting to be hold on October 29, but the actual date the AGM will be held has not been confirmed by the company - which has to give shareholders ample warning before an AGM is held.
Turney claimed that Thursday is the last day New World Oil could set October 29 as the date of the annual general meeting.
Turney published his reply to New World Chief Executive Peter Sztyk, in which he said he "nominated the directors correctly and resubmitted the correct paperwork" concerning the proposals at the AGM.
"If you have concerns over the veracity of the information I have submitted through formal market notifications I suggest you take it up with the relevant authorities. You have my details, and I am more than happy to deal with them directly," Turney wrote to Sztyk. "Finally, you still have not confirmed the date for the annual general meeting. Your intransigent refusal to call this meeting is making it exceptionally difficult to deal with you in good faith," the email added.
The action group is trying to nominate Adam Reynolds, Nick Mustoe and Mark Collingbourne for election to the board. The group has been promoting the individuals recent success at fellow-London-listed Optibiotix Health PLC and Premaitha Health PLC.
Although the action group did not state what roles it would ideally want to see the three hold in the company, it suggests Reynolds would lead the company because he has identified a project and team that he believes is "ideally suited" to the company in the med-tech space.
The action group claims Reynolds made a proposal to NWOGaction members which offered "an alternative business model to the one presented by the current board", which received the support of 88.7% of the shares held in New World Oil and Gas by the NWOGaction group, with only 0.8% voting against the proposals. The remaining 10.5% abstained.
On Thursday, the TR-1 form submitted by the action group and released by the company said: "NWOGaction fully supports the candidacies of Adam Reynolds, Nicholas Mustoe and Mark Collingbourne for election to the board of New World Oil and Gas at the forthcoming AGM."
"Following New World's shareholder call, NWOGaction has listened to, reflected upon and rejects the contentious premises on which the current board of directors of New World Oil & Gas appears to be basing its decisions," it added.
"NWOGaction continues in the firm expectation that, as previously agreed, the AGM will be convened sooner rather than later and certainly before any commitments are made to further capital expenditure," the action group said.
NWOGaction was re-launched in July and was originally trying to stop a controversial open offer of shares conducted by the company, which it failed to do.
At that time of the relaunch, NWOGaction said it would "not personally seek positions on New World?s board" but said it "remains a goal of NWOGaction?s to achieve formal shareholder representation, through the appointment of an independent, credible non-executive director".
In July, it also said it had no plan to request an extraordinary general meeting because the company was "certainly too weak to survive a protracted and confrontational shareholder action".
Currently, New World's board is comprised of Chief Executive Sztyk, Non-Executive Chairman Chris Einchcomb, Executive Georges Sztyk and Non-Executives Roland Hodder and Stephen Polakoff.
New World Oil shares were up 1.9% to 0.0790 pence per share on Thursday afternoon.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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