Director and Senior Management Changes

RNS Number : 2235T

CyanConnode Holdings PLC

19 March 2019

 

19 March 2019

CyanConnode Holdings plc

("CyanConnode" or the "Company")

Director and Senior Management Changes

CyanConnode Holdings plc, (AIM:CYAN), a world leader in Narrowband Radio Frequency (RF) Smart Mesh Networks, announces the following Board and senior management changes:

Board changes

·       the appointment of Christopher Jones and Peter Tyler to the Board of the Company as Non-executive Directors with immediate effect;

·       Harry Berry will be stepping down from the Board with effect from 31 March 2019 and from the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO) at the next Annual General Meeting in June 2019. He will provide ad hoc consultancy services to the Company for a 12-month period from July 2019;

·       Paul Ratcliff will be stepping down as Non-executive Director with effect from the next Annual General Meeting; and

·       the promotion of Heather Peacock to Chief Financial Officer of the Company (Heather remains on the board).

Senior management changes

·       the promotion of Anil Daulani to Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of India while continuing on the Board of the Indian subsidiary; and

·       the promotion of Allan Baig (currently Head of Engineering) to Vice President Engineering & Operations.

The following changes are to align the Board and senior management team with the Company's strategy as it continues to establish itself as a world leader in internet of things (IoT) technology for smart city solutions and grow its order book from its key markets (India, China, Nordics, SE Asia and UK), and in turn revenues.

Board changes

Chris Jones joins CyanConnode from global technology giant Arm Limited ('Arm', the multinational semiconductor and software design company) where his most recent role was Vice President of Commercial Operations for its IoT Service Group overseeing product Licencing and SaaS business models, at its Cambridge, UK headquarters.  Prior to this he held the position of Chief Operating Officer for mobile, device and IoT security leaders, Trustonic Ltd, a company founded in 2012 by Arm, Gemalto and G&D.  At Trustonic, Chris was responsible for overseeing the formation of the company and the implementation of its strategic direction, managing core functions of legal, HR, finance, IT and facilities. 

Chris was at Arm from 1997 to 2012, initially in product management roles, culminating in the position of VP Licensing between 2004-2012 leading Arm's CPU/ SoC product Licensing and revenue management.  His extensive experience in commercial operations, licencing and royalty business models will be greatly advantageous to CyanConnode as it continues to evolve its Licencing models to maximise sales growth and recurring revenues.  Chris will be Chairman of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit committee.

Peter Tyler is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Certified Accountants.  He has held a number of roles in finance, mainly in the pharmaceutical sector, and is well versed in growing businesses and creating shareholder value.  Peter has also been involved in a number of charities where his role has been building them up, putting in place structures, processes and teams and funding to satisfy the demands of the programmes.  Peter will be Chairman of the Audit Committee and be a member of the Remuneration Committee

The Company also announces that Harry Berry will be stepping down from the Board with effect from 31 March 2019 and will step down from his COO role following the next Annual General Meeting scheduled for June 2019. Harry took on the COO role with the aim of completing a few critical objectives over 2-year period.  These included the following: (i) the development and launch of the Omnimesh product on time and to ensure positive customer feedback borne out by orders; (ii) the rationalising of the engineering team to consolidate the Connode acquisition completed in July 2016; (iii) to create a world class team and (iv) to ensure the handover to a strong leader to run the engineering team.  These objectives have all been completed and the Company would like to thank him for his contribution during his time on the Board, particularly in his role as Chief Operating Officer and wish him well for the future.  Harry will continue to be a supporter & shareholder in CyanConnode.

Heather Peacock was appointed to the Board in July 2018 and has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer. In addition to overall responsibility for the functions of Group Finance and Company Secretarial, she will oversee the functions of HR, IT and admin.

Finally, the Company announces that Paul Ratcliff will step down from the Board at the next Annual General Meeting.  This will allow him to enable a smooth handover of the roles of Audit Chairman and Remuneration Chairman whilst completing final deliverables on the ISO audit.  The Company has recently been advised they have passed certification for the three ISO standards towards which they have been working under Paul's leadership. These include ISO9001:2015, ISO27001 and ISO14001. The Company would like to thank him for his work and support during his three and a half years on the Board.  Paul will continue to be a shareholder, while pursuing his interest in the fast developing Blockchain and Health areas; the latter being another major user of IoT RF devices.

Senior management changes

The Company announces that Anil Daulani has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director India. Since joining the Company, Anil has grown the Indian operations substantially, and has aided significant contracts wins, which saw orders to the value of $19.4 million for CyanConnode's Omnimesh solution, launched in June 2018.  The Indian market remains a key focus for CyanConnode and the Company expects further solid growth with a number of future opportunities.

The Company is also pleased to announce that instead of replacing the COO position, Allan Baig, who has worked closely with Harry over the last 18 months, will be promoted to Vice President Engineering & Operations with immediate effect. Allan joined CyanConnode in June 2017 from Landis + Gyr, a multinational metering solutions company, and has run the engineering function at CyanConnode since then, overseeing the development of Omnimesh and managing the knowledge transfer from Sweden to the UK allowing for the closure of the Swedish office.

John Cronin, Executive Chairman, commented: "We are delighted to announce the appointment of Chris and Peter at such an exciting time for the Company.  Their experience and knowledge will be invaluable to us as we continue to execute on the Company's growth strategy focussing on rolling out our innovative and new Omnimesh smart metering solution and building our position as the leading IoT technology for smart city solutions.

"I would also like to thank Harry and Paul for their contribution to the Company, which has helped see the Company grow over that time."

Harry Berry commented: "I am delighted to say that all of the objectives that John asked me to take on as part of the COO role have now been achieved.  In Allan Baig, I believe we have a strong VP who I am confident will continue to lead the engineering team effectively.  I will of course as an investor maintain a keen interest in CyanConnode's progress.  I believe the Company is now in a great position to win and deliver on large orders in what is a truly global market."

Paul Ratcliff commented: "I have enjoyed my time with CyanConnode immensely.  The Company now looks set to benefit from careful product preparation followed by its success obtaining early orders from major customers.  As a shareholder I look forward to the Company continuing its development and maturing into a major and valuable player in the IoT space."

Disclosures required under AIM Rule 17

Further disclosures on Mr Jones as required under Schedule Two, paragraph (g) (i)-(viii) of the AIM Rules are as follows. Christopher Lloyd Jones (age 54), has held the following directorships in the past five years:

Past
Trustonic Oy
Trustonic Inc.
Trustonic GmbH
Trustonic Korea

Mr. Jones is not currently a director or partnership of any other companies.

Current beneficial interest

Mr Jones has no beneficial interest and does not hold any options over shares in the capital of the Company.

There is no further information to be disclosed in relation to Mr Jones's appointment pursuant to AIM Rule 17 or paragraph (g) of Schedule Two of the AIM Rules for Companies

Further disclosures on Mr Tyler as required under Schedule Two, paragraph (g) (i)-(viii) of the AIM Rules are as follows. Peter Granville Tyler (age 51), is currently a director of Just Earth Limited. Mr. Tyler has held no other directorships in the past five years:

Current beneficial interest

Mr Tyler holds 964,128 ordinary shares of 2 pence each ("Ordinary Shares") in the capital of CyanConnode and does not hold any options over shares in the capital of the Company

There is no further information to be disclosed in relation to Mr Tyler's appointment pursuant to AIM Rule 17 or paragraph (g) of Schedule Two of the AIM Rules for Companies

- Ends -

Enquiries:

CyanConnode Holdings plc                                                         Tel: [phone]

John Cronin, Executive Chairman                                               www.cyanconnode.com

Arden Partners plc (Nomad and Broker)                                 Tel: [phone]

Paul Shackleton / Dan Gee-Summons (Corporate Finance)

Simon Johnson (Corporate Broking)

Yellow Jersey PR (Financial PR)                                                  Tel: [phone]

Felicity Winkles / Sarah Hollins/ Annabel Atkins                      [e-mail]

About CyanConnode

CyanConnode is a world leader in Narrowband Radio Frequency (RF) Smart Mesh Networks that facilitate machine to machine (M2M) communication. CyanConnode's innovative network technology, which is self-forming and self-healing, uses the Licence Free Industrial, Scientific and Medical Radio Band which is optimised to give exceptional performance and competitive total cost of ownership.  Through global partnerships, CyanConnode provides customers with solutions for the rapid deployment of build-as-you-go Narrowband RF Smart Mesh Networks that provide reliable and secure citywide or countrywide M2M communication.

For more information, please visit www.cyanconnode.com

 

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