Osmond fails to land killer blow
People tend to be more polite in company of course. And that might be the reason why the much-anticipated Six Continents showdown seemed more like a parish council meeting than council of war. Those expecting impassioned and stirring rhetoric would be sorely disappointed. Very English restraint was to be the order of the day. Sure, Hugh Osmond was there to pitch his case but maybe the long nights preparing his bid had taken their toll. Just after Tim Clarke and Richard North had set out the merits of demerger, Osmond, sitting on the front row, rose to his feet to table a proposal for adjourning the demerger meeting for 66 days. There was a palpable sense of anticipation among the 400 or so attendees in the Queen Elizabeth II Conference centre in London as Osmond his trade mark open-necked shirt and sports jacket as casual as his manner asked to use the mobile podium for his address. His speech to Six Continents shareholders fizzled but failed to explode. "Leopards do not change their spots," he said. "This demerger does not change this management." Otherwise, Osmond was strangely subdued and passive, taking 17 minutes to make a case that seemed lacking in killer facts to prove his central charge Six Continents management were poor managers and dealmakers. There was a passing reference to Six Continents "short-lived brands" but nothing in the way of elaboration. This was his moment, and he was rushing through, almost apologetically. Osmond had even failed to capitalise on a strangely uneven performance by Richard North. It started well with North eschewing notes to speak with fluidity. But soon he was praising the performance of hotels under "Tom Oliver's ownership... er... I mean leadership". And then all sorts of questions were being begged. It was only demerger, he seemed to be saying, that had convinced managers "of the absolute need to change" and that this helped identify $100m in cost savings. It was left to ordinary shareholders to sling mud and it was largely in Osmond's direction. The shareholders at the meeting were not just city slickers used to the upper slopes of high finance. There were small shareholders aplenty and Osmond, from their position on the nursery slopes, seemed a bit too flash as he tried to take the company off piste. Small shareholder Kishin Navani told Osmond and his fellow directors they were "young chaps not fit to run a company". Another investor likened Osmond and Co to other corporate "asset strippers" who "kept the lion's share of the company for themselves". By the time Alan McIntosh, Osmond's financial director, came to second the adjournment motion the mood of the meeting seemed to have turned. Shareholders began to heckle when he asked for and was denied access to the podium. While the meeting adjourned to count votes, Osmond looked crestfallen. At the nearby Westminster Arms pub, there was a distinctly subdued mood as his 20-strong team munched on cheese and tomato sandwiches. And when the meeting re-adjourned at 2.15pm for the declaration of the vote, Osmond and Co had decided to leave rather than face a humilating trudge out of the hall. Timetable of the day 10am: ‑Tim Clarke and Richard North meet the media 10.30: ‑Extraordinary general meeting opened by Ian Prosser 10.40: ‑Tim Clarke speaks 10.50: ‑Richard North speaks 11.00: ‑Hugh Osmond tables his proposal to adjourn for 66 days 11.17: ‑Questions from the floor 11.50: ‑Meeting adjourned to count votes 2.15pm:‑ Meeting re-opened by Ian Prosser who declares Osmond's proposal has been defeated 3.10pm: ‑Proxy votes that arrived by post show overwhelming vote in favour of demerger
