Victoria rebel defends actions

One of the men behind an attempt to overhaul the board of Victoria, the carpet maker, has spoken out to defend his group's actions.

Speaking publicly for the first time Geoff Wilding, who would become a director if the rebel shareholder group succeeds, hit out at the board for rejecting the proposal to replace two existing directors with four new appointees, and for putting the company up for sale instead.

"We think the company has an enormous amount of potential and it simply hasn't been realised by the current board," he said.

The board has accused the group of trying to take control of the company through a "backdoor way".

The proposed new guard, led by former chairman Alexander Anton, have until now given few details on how they plan to change the 117-year-old company's strategy.

Mr Wilding denied speculation that the new directors could take the company private. He added that he would not try to merge Victoria with Flooring Brands, an Australian carpet retailer, in which he is a shareholder.

Mr Anton, who was chairman from 2007 to 2010, stepped down after the board failed to renew his contract. He now owns less than 2 per cent of the company.

However, Mr Anton has said he has the support of investors holding 46 per cent of the shares for a board change.

Mr Wilding also accused management of not delivering high enough returns for shareholders. "The share price is basically half net tangible assets," he said.

While the company's shares have risen by more than 45 per cent over the past year, it has a market capitalisation of slightly less than £24m, compared with tangible net assets of about £38m, according to analysts.

The board told shareholders this gap was "inherited" and that it was looking at disposing of non-core assets in order to deal with the issue. It urged shareholders to vote against Mr Anton's proposal.

The board has defended its move to put the company on sale as "in good faith and most likely to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its shareholders as a whole", a move criticised by Mr Wilding.

"It's no different to a home owner deciding to put his house up for sale at the worst possible time, leaving the lawn unmown, rubbish strewn around the house, wallpaper peeling off the walls and saying I want this sold overnight and get me top dollar," Mr Wilding said.

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