PZ Cussons strips former boss of retirement payments

(Sharecast News) - PZ Cussons has stripped its outgoing chief executive of certain retirement payments after the discovery of financial irregularities.
A company veteran, Alex Kanellis announced in December he would retire at the end of January 2020 after 13 years at the helm.

But on Thursday, the consumer goods group said that since then, "certain matters" had been bought to its attention.

It explained: "These related to a number of cash withdrawals and payments made by Mr Kanellis over a period of years. These actions had not previously been disclosed to the board and, if substantiated, indicated behaviours inconsistent with that would be expected of a senior member of management."

The company behind Imperial Leather soap and Carex hand sanitiser appointed Addleshaw Goddard to investigate. The law firm has now finished its probe, and based on its report, the board has concluded that Kanellis' behaviour "fell short of that which could reasonably be expected from the chief executive and constituted repeated breaches of his duties as a director of the company".

It did not specify the financial amounts involved, other than to confirm they were "not material" and would not impact any current or previous financial statements.

However, the original retirement settlement struck between PZ Cussons and Kanellis in December, before the allegations came to light, required "certain representations to be reconfirmed" by the outgoing boss before payments could be made.

PZ Cussons continued: "As a result of the facts coming to light as part of this investigation, the board believes that Mr Kanellis could not, in the circumstances, reconfirm those representations.

"As a consequence, the remuneration committee has determined that no payments will be made directly to Mr Kanellis in connection with his retirement." It did not provide further details on the scale or nature of the payments.

Kanellis is to be replaced by Jonathan Myers, former chief executive of cosmetics group Avon Products, who joins on 1 May. In December, PZ Cussons reported a fall in half-year after weaker consumer spending across its main markets, including the UK and Africa. PZ Cusson's African business accounts for around a third of group revenues.