Rakon confirms founder Robinson won't seek board re-election

Tuesday 25th July 2017

Rakon has confirmed that founder Warren Robinson is retiring from the office of director by rotation and has chosen not to offer himself for re-election at the upcoming annual meeting.

In March, the Auckland-based company said it had appointed three new directors to the board who will put themselves forward for election by shareholders' at the next annual meeting in a refresh of the high-tech manufacturer's governance team. At the time it said Robinson was prepared to step down before the meeting.

The three include Lorraine Witten, Keith Oliver and Yin Tang Tseng. If elected Oliver and Witten will be independent directors while Tseng will be a non-executive director due to his relationship with Siward Crystal Technology Co., Ltd, which holds approximately 16.6 percent of Rakon. Tseng is the chairman of Siward Crystal Technology Co.

Rakon designs and manufactures advanced frequency control and timing solutions for telecommunications, global positioning and space and defence applications. Rakon has four manufacturing plants including two joint venture plants and has five research and development centres.

It shifted its focus to the telecommunications sector after rivals in the smart wireless market caught up, turning what was once a niche product into a commoditised one. The shift helped Rakon return to profitability in the March 2015 year, but a slump in spending by network operators weighed on the Kiwi firm the following year, pushing it back into the red, and its net loss widened to $13.6 million in the 12 months ended March 31, from $1.7 million a year earlier.

Rakon's board faced a shareholder revolt at last year's annual meeting that led to executive director Darren Robinson, a member of the founding family, losing his seat at the board.

The shares last traded at 17.2 cents and have lost 24 percent over the past 12 months.

(BusinessDesk)

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