Vmoto in race for new director
Scooter maker Vmoto is set to appoint an interim director tomorrow after being forced into a trading halt for not having enough Australian residents on its board.
The move came after Simon Farrell quit as chairman on Tuesday over a falling out with Vmoto's Chinese management, leaving the company with just one Australian director.
The Australian Securities Exchange told Vmoto yesterday it needed to appoint another director by the end of the day or place its shares in a halt. The shares were down 0.3� to 4.5� when trading stopped.
The Corporations Act requires a public company to have at least two directors who ordinarily reside in Australia.
"We consider it to be a sufficiently serious requirement that needs to be met," an ASX spokesman said.
Mr Farrell's departure on the day of Vmoto's annual meeting in Perth left corporate adviser Olly Cairns as the only Australian director.
Managing director Charles Chen and the two other board members are Chinese nationals based in Nanjing, home of Vmoto's manufacturing base.
Mr Cairns said the incoming director would be a temporary appointment until a search for Mr Farrell's replacement was completed.
"This is the complication when you've got a management team up in China," Mr Cairns said.
"You can't rush into these things. There's a process to ensure that it's the right person and they're comfortable with who it is, and they can add value.
"They're not going to appoint someone they don't know."
