HEALTHCARE
ANDREW Taee has been dismissed from his post as chief executive of
Crestacare with immediate effect, following a unanimous decision by the
full board under the chairmanship of Sir Matthew Goodwin.
His dismissal follows what has been described as ''a very serious
breach of contract'', relating to the details of his service contract.
There is no financial loss involved and Mr Taee is unlikely to get
compensation. He owns three million Crestacare shares.
''There is no black hole in the accounts of this company,'' said Sir
Matthew, who recently retired from the chairmanship of Hewden Stuart. He
added that he could ''only see pluses'' in the situation.
The City appeared to hold a similar view, marking Crestacare's shares
up 4[1/2]p to 34p. There have been concerns expressed in the past about
the company's overheads given its small size.
For instance, Mr Taee earned in excess of #300,000 last year excluding
pension contributions. This is more than Sir Matthew made at Hewden
Stuart, a considerably larger company, and he joked: ''I think I must
have got it wrong.'' In addition, Crestacare has four offices in the UK
including one in London.
Sir Matthew is known for running a tight ship and is expected to take
an axe to the operating overheads, with the group headquarters likely to
be concentrated at the existing Scottish office at Murdostoun Castle,
Wishaw.
Dr Magdy Ishak, a director of Crestacare following last year's
acquisition of Scotcare, is to replace Mr Taee as chief executive. His
medical knowledge in areas such as brain injury will be particularly
useful in view of Crestacare's strategic expansion into special medical
fields where margins tend to be higher. Sir Matthew was chairman of
Scotcare for a number of years and knows Dr Ishak well.
Given the likelihood of substantial cost savings following Mr Taee's
departure, City analysts were busying increasing their profit forecasts
for the year. They now expect annual profits to grow to around #5.5m,
including depreciation of around #1.5m.
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