Gyllenhammar seeks to unseat Swallowfield chairman

AIM-quoted Swallowfield has set a date for the general meeting requisitioned by Peter Gyllenhammar in order to remove Shena Winning as chairman of the personal care and household products supplier. Swallowfield has convened a meeting for 11 April. Swallowfield believes that Gyllenhammar will not stop there and he will want further board changes in the future. Gyllenhammar requisitioned the general meeting through Union Discount, which owns 28.2% of Swallowfield, and he also wants to remove from the board anyone else appointed after 21 February. Plus-quoted investment company Western Selection, which has a 16.3% stake, says that it will support Gyllenhammar. In its interim statement, Western Selection said: "We do not believe that the board of Swallowfield has the necessary mix of skills and experience amongst its non-executive directors and we will continue to work with other shareholders to rectify this". No other shareholder owns 10% or more, which means it will be difficult to defeat the motion. Swallowfield appointed Martin Hagen and Richard Organ, a past director, to the board in January. This was to assuage the concerns of shareholders about the board. The board has tried to negotiate a solution with Gyllenhammar and Western Selection so that it can retain its independence. These fruitless negotiations have stopped the board from completing a circular to set out its reasons for rejecting the motions so this will be sent to shareholders later. Swallowfield reported a 7% rise in interim revenues to £31.3m and it has a strong order book. Pre-tax profit was 7% lower at £689,000 in the 28 weeks to 8 January 2011. Net debt is £2.47m. There is an unchanged interim dividend of 2.2p a share.