Iconic Labs PLC Retraction of claims (9734W)
23 Août 2022 - 05:57PM
UK Regulatory
TIDMICON
RNS Number : 9734W
Iconic Labs PLC
23 August 2022
Iconic Labs PLC
Retraction of claims made against David Sefton and the former
directors of Iconic Labs Plc
The directors and Joint Administrators of Iconic Labs Plc ("the
Company") wish to clarify matters in respect of the allegations of
wrongdoing previously made against David Sefton, the former
directors and several other entities and persons connected with
them.
These claims were originally made on the basis of factual
assumptions which the directors believed to be true on the date
that the claims were originally made. The board notes that no legal
proceedings were ever commenced, and matters had not proceeded
beyond exchanges of letters among lawyers. As part of these
exchanges documents and other evidence were provided and discussed.
As a result the board has concluded that the factual assumptions
underlying the originally asserted claims were not correct. That
this situation arose was at least in part due to the incomplete and
unsatisfactory state of the company records when they were
originally handed over to the current directors.
As an example, the most important part of the allegations, and
the only part giving rise to any material claim in damages, was
that an allegation that a change of control clause entitling
Greencastle to terminate the management services contract with the
Company in respect of JOE Media had been inserted into that
agreement only in December 2020 once it became apparent that the
former directors might be left with no alternative than to resign.
From this, an assumption had been made that the contract was being
amended only for the purpose of depriving the Company of the
benefit of management fees going forward. This was not correct. The
change of control clause was included in the management services
contract when it was originally entered into, was a normal and
usual commercial clause in such contracts and was present in
identical form in all other management services contracts that
Greencastle had entered into.
Further investigations by forensic accountants and lawyers
engaged by the directors also failed to uncover any evidence of any
wrongdoing or inappropriate behaviour by any of David Sefton, the
former directors or any entity connected to them.
In these circumstances, it would be inappropriate for the
Company to continue to maintain that there was any wrongdoing by
any of David Sefton, the former directors or any entity connected
to them or to continue to assert that there is any prospect of a
legal claim being established against any of them. In accordance
with their fiduciary duties, the board has no reservations about
withdrawing the alleged claims in full.
The directors also note that the GBP1,000,000 loan note from
Greencastle was repaid in its entirety by virtue of Greencastle's
valid exercise of a contractual right of set-off.
The directors have offered an apology to, among others, David
Sefton and the former directors for the claims having been made,
and in response David Sefton noted that he not only accepted the
apology but recognised that the directors had been properly
following their directors' duties to investigate all relevant
matters relating to the Company and agreed with them that it can be
difficult for an incoming board, often with difficulties in
accessing documentary records, to form a complete picture of past
events. Both David Sefton and the board now consider the matter to
be closed.
WA Batty
For Iconic Labs PLC
Joint Administrator 22 August 2022
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms
and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information
contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an
anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services.
For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange
use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy
Policy.
END
MSCEXLFLLVLZBBX
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 23, 2022 11:57 ET (15:57 GMT)
Widecells (LSE:WDC)
Graphique Historique de l'Action
De Fév 2024 à Mar 2024
Widecells (LSE:WDC)
Graphique Historique de l'Action
De Mar 2023 à Mar 2024