PETALING JAYA: Glove maker Supermax Corp Bhd has been hit by another resignation from the board, following on the heels of the controversial resignation last week of Cecile Jaclyn Thai, the daughter of group founder Stanley Thai.
In a statement today, the company announced the resignation of its independent non-executive director Sharon Sung, 48, with effect from June 30.
The group said her impending resignation was purely due to “her personal commitments and increased workload in another public-listed company”.
Sung is also executive director and group CFO at Padini Holdings Bhd, and was previously an audit partner at accounting firm Grant Thornton Malaysia.
“The board would like to take this opportunity to reassure its stakeholders that Sung’s resignation will not have any adverse impact on the company’s operations and that Supermax remains committed to its mission and will continue to work tirelessly towards achieving its objectives,” the statement said.
It said Sung has been an invaluable member of the board, providing extensive knowledge and experience to help guide the company during her two years serving on the board.
In anticipation to having its manufacturing operations in the US soon, Supermax will be undertaking a reshuffling of its board to align with its global strategy.
“Supermax will be taking this opportunity to review and reshuffle its boardroom to align with the group’s global strategy and forward direction,” it said, adding the board will be initiating a search for a replacement for Sung.
The group’s filing with Bursa Malaysia today stated that Sung had no disagreements with the board, and there were no matters relating to her that needed to be brought to the attention of shareholders.
This is in stark contrast to Supermax’s announcement on Cecile’s resignation last week which stated she had expressed “a dissenting voice” on several matters discussed at the board meetings. However, decisions were carried out by a majority vote, the filing said.
In her resignation letter, Cecile claimed her father’s intention to remove her from the board was in direct response to her rejection of his proposal to acquire a new RM211 million aircraft, to replace another that was acquired a year earlier.
She said there were concerted attempts by the board to “act against corporate governance practices, punish dissent and silence transparency”, leading to her decision to step down.
Cecile, 35, also alleged she experienced “bullying and silencing” from other board members, including her father, while trying to uphold her fiduciary duties.
She was appointed as executive director on Jan 2, 2018, and was later redesignated as non-independent, non-executive director on Feb 28, 2022.
The board of Supermax has since dismissed all of Cecile’s allegations. Director Ting Heng Peng said Stanley did indeed state his intention for Cecile to step down from the board effective Dec 8, 2021.
“However, it is untrue to say that is was in direct response to her rejection of his proposal to acquire a new aircraft,” he said in a statement issued to FMT Business on Tuesday.
He said Stanley had clearly stated it was because he was returning to the board as executive chairman effective Dec 8, 2021.
“It goes without saying that having too many executive directors, especially non-independent family members, with overlapping roles would not be ideal in terms of corporate governance,” he said.
Stanley and his wife Cheryl Tan control a 38.37% stake in the company they founded in 1987 as a trading business distributing latex gloves.
At the close of trading today, Supermax’s share price finished one sen lower or 1.16% at 85 sen, with a market capitalisation of RM2.31 billion. - FMT
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