Vocus chief executive Geoff Horth has left the company "by mutual agreement", according to an announcement made to the ASX on Monday.
Horth (below, right) has occupied the chief executive's chair since February 2016 when Vocus merged with the M2 Group, having been the M2 Group chief for about five years.
The statement to the ASX said that the board and Horth had been in talks about the question of succession this year. Horth's exit comes a few days after a petition was launched on change.org calling for both him and Vocus Group chairman Vaughan Bowen to quit.
In the statement, Bowen said: “Geoff has served as Vocus CEO during undoubtedly the most challenging chapter in its journey to date, wrestling with the simultaneous tasks of integrating several large, complex businesses, combining different corporate cultures and while the Australian telco sector was under substantial structural upheaval, in light of the rollout of the NBN and the exponential growth in demand for data networks.
{loadposition sam08}“Geoff leaves the company with the sincere appreciation of the board, for his unrelenting endeavour under the most trying of circumstances and with the wide-reaching respect of our executive and our team, as well our customers, suppliers and other stakeholders.”
In October 2016, a plot to oust Horth failed, resulting in the departure of founder and chief executive James Spenceley and fellow board member Tony Grist. The company's shares plunged to a 13-month low after the incident.
At the time Spenceley said: "Both Tony and I believed that a change was needed and we didn’t have a huge amount of faith in the CEO. Our view is that the company would be better served by a fresh set of eyes, by someone who hasn’t been previously involved with either M2 or Vocus.”
Vocus said the Michael Simmons would function as interim chief executive. Simmons is chief executive of Vocus' Wholesale and International Division, and previous chief executive of the (former) Vocus Enterprise and Wholesale division.
Bowen said; “Michael is a proven deliverer, evidenced by the outstanding period-on-period growth reported in the (former) Enterprise and Wholesale division in the first half of FY18. The board greatly appreciates Michael stepping into the interim CEO role, ensuring we retain momentum on the key areas of focus across the group.”