Burford Capital (BUR) have announced a number of changes to their board to meet the concerns of investors about corporate governance at the company. It includes the CFO (wife of the CEO) moving to another role, and refreshing the board in due course.
This is what Chairman Sir Peter Middleton had to say: “Companies are owned by their shareholders, and when the shareholders speak, it is the role of boards and management to listen. While we may take a different view on some of these points, shareholders have clearly spoken and we have listened, just as Burford has throughout its existence. We trust that these governance enhancements operate to bolster investor confidence in Burford as it enters its next era of growth and success.”
I hope the directors of the Ventus VCTs (see previous blog post) are listening also.
Burford is also looking for a US listing (on the NYSE or Nasdaq) as investors have made it clear they do not support Burford being solely listed on AIM.
These changes will help to make the company more of a sound investment proposition but the question remains over whether their financial accounting is prudent, and has been historically accurate. Muddy Waters clearly suggested otherwise. The key question for investors is whether a new CFO will take a different approach to their accounting and decide it should be done differently.
Unfortunately the new CFO, Jim Kilman, was the former investment banker at Morgan Stanley for the company and has been acting as an advisor to the company since 2016. It hardly looks like they undertook a formal recruitment process but have just appointed someone they already know, and who knows them, to the position as a stop-gap measure. That is not the best way to reassure investors on financial prudence.
Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )
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