Powerhouse's Hampson resigns, effective immediately, Viney named replacement

Tuesday 29th August 2017

Powerhouse Ventures, the ASX-listed incubator that put one of its investments into liquidation this month, says managing director Stephen Hampson has resigned, effective immediately, and has been replaced by chief financial officer Paul Viney.

Chairman Russell Yardley also said John Walley will step down as a director at the Christchurch-based company's annual meeting in November, although his departure was "part of a planned, considered and strategic board refresh programme as announced in Powerhouse’s prospectus in 2016."

Yardley said Hampson was key to the creation of Powerhouse in 2006 and over the past decade had "overseen the incubation and growth of more than 20 science-based companies."

Powerhouse went public in a A$10.2 million initial public offering last year at A$1.07 a share. It last traded at 33 Australian cents on the ASX.

Earlier this month, the company secured a High Court order to appoint an interim liquidator to Hydroworks, a hydroelectric turbine designer in which it held a 24 percent stake. It has written off the value of the investment.

Issues at Hydroworks come after the resignation in June of Blair Bryant from the board of Powerhouse after he was ousted as chairman for failing to disclose his bankruptcy in the US. But the company also enjoyed success this month, with CropLogic, which successfully raised A$8 million in an initial public offering ahead of a planned listing on the ASX.

Yardley, who joined the board in March and was appointed chair in June, said Powerhouse "is evolving, and to help our portfolio companies achieve their full potential, we need to deepen the governance and executive skills, with particular focus on capital markets expertise and international corporate growth expertise."

"I am confident, with deeper and more specialised executive and governance experience, we can build our portfolio of companies into the global forces they have the potential to be," Yardley said.

Powerhouse, which received funding from Callaghan Innovation as did some of the start-ups it invested in such as CropLogic, is scheduled to release its full-year results this week.

The biggest shareholder in Powerhouse is Christchurch City Council-owned Canterbury Development Corp (CDC) with 22.5 percent.

(BusinessDesk)

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