(^) Daily Mail, Friday, August 30, 2019
by Matt Oliver
AN INVENTOR behind the first elec-
tric car charging points has come
one step closer to reclaiming a £1m
bonus from BP.
Calvey Taylor-Haw, 62, has won his
unfair dismissal claim against the
oil supermajor in a key milestone
towards suing BP in the High Court.
The inventor claims BP Charge-
master is refusing to hand over
share options, worth £1m, which
he is owed as part of a deal he
signed when he sold his
technology.
An employment tribunal
judge yesterday found
that Taylor-Haw had been
unfairly dismissed by the
company following that
deal, and that he had
been assured he
would receive his
options after
leaving. David Martell, chief exec-
utive of Chargemaster at the time
Taylor-Haw (pictured) sold his
technology, had denied in evi-
dence on Wednesday that he had
ever given such assurances.
Judge Jack said: ‘I find as a matter
of fact that the share options were
discussed during the redundancy
consultation meetings and it was at
that time that Mr Martell
assured the claimant [Tay-
lor-Haw] that he would
receive his options.’
Taylor-Haw said: ‘I am
delighted the employment
tribunal judge found I was
unfairly dismissed by
Chargemaster.
‘My next step is to pur-
sue a claim in the High
Court for my very valu-
able share options.’
Inventor wins first stage of
£1m court battle with BP
MORE than £1.7bn was
wiped off the value of
Micro Focus after the trou-
bled business issued
another profit warning.
The British technology
group blamed a downturn
in sales of its software to
clients, including banks
and retailers.
The gloomy update sent shares
in the company plunging by
32.4pc, or 504p, to 1051.4p.
It is the latest blow to Micro
Focus, which has been laid low
by teething problems that
arose from its £7bn takeover of
HP Enterprise’s (HPE)
software arm.
Micro Focus had already
warned sales would be 4pc to
6pc lower this year, but yester-
day it said the drop would now
be between 6pc and 8pc.
As shares crashed by nearly a
third, Micro Focus bosses said
they were launching a major
review of the business and that
no options would be ruled out.
It prompted speculation that
part or even all of the company
could be put up for sale.
The turmoil also threw the
firm’s prized place on Britain’s
FTSE 100 into doubt, just days
before a reshuffle of the blue-
chip index is due to take place.
Chief executive Stephen Mur-
doch said: ‘Following the recent
disappointing trading perform-
ance, we have determined that it
is appropriate to accelerate a
strategic review of the group’s
Daily Mail, Friday, August 30, 2019
£1.7 billion
wiped off
Micro Focus
in profit
shock
32pc
slump in share
price yesterday
operations. Whilst the review is
taking place, management will
continue to drive previously tar-
geted improvements.’
Micro Focus has been dogged
by problems since its disastrous
takeover of HPE’s software divi-
sion in 2017.
The company specialises in
wringing profit out of old com-
puter systems it acquires and
then sells software and mainte-
nance services to banks and retailers
which use them.
But the HPE acquisition was its
biggest yet and saw its headcount
rise from 4,000 to more than 18,000 as
it absorbed a large number of staff
based in the US.
It suffered setbacks early on, with
Chris Hsu, HPE’s former chief execu-
tive, leaving in March 2018 – just six
months after he joined Micro Focus.
Kevin Loosemore, Micro Focus’s
executive chairman (pictured right),
also later admitted the firm had
struggled with the cultural differ-
ences with HPE and that sales staff
had suffered from low morale.
There were problems with compu-
ter systems as well when the two
companies merged.
Micro Focus blamed its latest
woes on ‘weak sales execution’ and
tough economic conditions – such
as Brexit uncertainty – that had
made customers more cautious
about doing deals.
The fall in Micro Focus’s share price
saw its market capitalisation fall
from about £5.3bn on Wednesday to
just under £3.8bn.
That put it near the bottom of the
FTSE 100 and well behind several
firms in the FTSE 250 which could be
promoted to the top index next
week. Analysts at Jefferies slashed
the firm’s share price target from
1700p to 1300p.
Russ Mould, investment director at
AJ Bell, said: ‘Micro Focus has been
struggling for nearly two years with
various problems and the pains keep
getting worse.
‘Now we’ve got the dreaded phrase
“strategic review”, which means it is
preparing to make big changes.
‘One could even see Micro Focus
put itself up for sale and private
equity companies could be
interested.’
Ian Forrest, investment research
analyst at The Share Centre,
added: ‘Many will now be losing
faith and wondering what impact
all of this may have on future divi-
dend payments.’
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