Anger as Psion rebels lose vote

By James Rossiter
Updated: 19:00 EDT, 11 March 2004

PSION chairman David Potter today used his huge personal holding in the company he founded to help ward off a shareholder revolt over the board's decision to cut ties with mobiles software maker Symbian.

After a stormy meeting, Psion won the day with a two-to-one vote in favour of plans to sell almost a third of Symbian for what private and institutional shareholders considered a knockdown £135.7m.

Nearly a third of the 175.5m votes cast in favour of the sale came from Potter's 11.9% stake in the company. Some 83.5m Psion shares, led by 13.5% shareholder Phoenix Asset Management, voted against the sale. The final vote came after a poll, called at the start of the meeting by Potter, and three-and-a-half hours of often-heated tirades from shareholders who took the podium to express their views.

Potter said after the result: 'We are pleased shareholders have supported the board and the resolution put forward. We have engaged in a lively and strong debate in an ordered and proper basis. We have had to answer as a management team to shareholders, which we have done diligently over the past four weeks.'

Phoenix partner Gary Channon told shareholders Potter wanted to 'tidy up the company' to allow him to step down from the board. He insisted Psion should remain a Symbian shareholder until the time was right for a float or, if not, sell Symbian for at least £270m.

Potter dismissed the allegation and insisted this was a commercial decision backed by the board in the interests of all shareholders.

Investor groups including Ruffer Investment Management, a private client manager that looks after onem Psion shares, were concerned it had not explored all the other opportunities available to extract value from Symbian, including bringing other mobile phone operators into the venture.

Psion's agreement to sell its 31% stake to mobile handsets maker Nokia leaves the Finnish firm with 63.3% of Symbian equity.

Other suggestions from shareholders included a spin-off of Psion's remaining Teklogix business, leaving Psion as a listed cash shell company with a minority holding in Symbian.

Potter countered he and the board had fully explored all these strategies but felt they could not work or were not in the company's best interests.

Psion has not ruled out returning some or all of the proceeds from the Symbian stake sale, which equates to 32.7p a share, but wants first to explore opportunities to build on its wireless data Psion Teklogix business.