Whistle blower prepared to out himself + MORE

Posted March 21, 2012                                             Twitter: @PaperlinXsux

• Whistle blower prepared to out himself
• Harry Boon accepts the truths of suX
• Harry Boon calls in favours at Financial Review
• Proof that Harry Boon cannot count.
• Introducing Ansellisation of PaperlinX
• Ansellisation in Action - here
• UK restructure complete in the UK? Don’t believe it, here is the proof.
• PaperlinX spending a fortune on consultants in UK, does the Board know?
• DeliveryCo tainted with nepotism.

Whistle blower prepared to out himself

In an amazing comment, set in three parts and posted here, a truly irate insider says: 

"If they continue to lie about this I will set the record straight with names dates and sworn statements from senior people who have left PPX and who are well aware of the truth".

“I just hope this gets published before the EGM”

I know who made this comment. The person is real and I believe totally credible, otherwise his comments would have been moderated.

Separately, Harry Boon accepts the truths of suX

As reported in today's Financial Review, Harry Boon reads suX and our caricatures. See here.  

He believes the personal attacks have gone too far. “I have done my best to shelter my family from it by saying don’t read the blogs that are very personal and quite hurtful,” he says.

Harry, glad to see you admit that the truth hurts. We might be starting to open a dialogue. You've made no attempts to rebut anything said on suX because you know it is all true. Despite this you still cover for Toby Marchant. Why?


Try feeling the hurt of people owning hybrids with a face value of $100 trading today at $16. The hurt of people less fortunate than you, or me, reliant on that alleged income. 

The directors abuse the ASX Notices to issue untruths by innuendo. You're up to dirty tricks galore. 

Show some remorse by having a Q&A at the EGM. If you win on Friday, it'll be a torrid AGM this year.

Mitigate your hurt by requesting me, in writing, to withdraw anything that's not factually true. There's a long list of untruths peddled by you and others. I'll gladly withdraw any published error of fact. 

Until then, readers are entitled to accept everything here as your admission of its truth.


How many favours did Harry Boon call in for a whole page feature in today's Financial Review?

Nice to see a balanced media at work - HERE.

Harry Boon’s own proof he cannot count, anything

Below is a true copy of an article in today’s Financial Review, titled:

       “This is not a battle of shares, says Boon”

Link Here. My comments are highlighted.

No Harry – it’s a battle for equity holders to see through a constant flow of misleading and deceptive information from PaperlinX. This one below from you is a classic case.

Wanna-be PaperlinX director Andrew Price has backed up his big talk by putting his money into the stock but Harry Boon says that’s more about taking advantage of a cheap share price [created on my watch with the share price falling 94%] than anything else.


Boon points out that his 21,000 shares in the paper group were purchased when the stock price was between $1.50 and $2. In contrast, Price’s average entry price is around the 6¢ mark. [Let’s not allow facts to get in the way of a good story. PPX has never traded at 6¢ so the average cannot be 6¢. Having trouble with the truth again, or are all those complex multi-currency transactions confusing you?]


“Since when has it been a criteria for a chairman or director to own any more shares than anyone else?” Boon asks.


“What you have here is an individual private investor who thinks it’s a buying opportunity and sunk his money into it.


“You don’t get control holding 1 per cent. You don’t say to the directors ‘I own more than you, therefore [I should run the company].”


[Fact is that Andrew Price controls 10-12%, which you know, so don’t mess with facts. Worse still is that your largest shareholder, with 18.3%, supports him too.]


Boon said his stake in the group, worth $40,000 at the time, cost him nearly a year’s pay after tax and other fees.


He says he has been looking to buy more shares in PaperlinX but has been unable to do so because of the fervent activity at the company. [“Fervent” is convenient gobbledygook for the share price falling 94% on your watch.]


“We have been in share buying blackout mode in the board for some time because there’s been deals in the wind or results announcements and in fact, three of our board members have been asking me for permission to buy shares for quite some time,” he says.


“We have not found an open trading window where there isn’t some significant inside information that would prevent them from buying, including this week.


“I’ve had to say, ‘it’s not the time given the EGM coming up’.” [Why? Is an imminent EGM now defined as a blackout period too? Or do you think you won’t need to own any shares in PaperlinX after Friday?]


“I’ve been looking to top up but I really haven’t had a window to do it.


[This is a grossly misleading and deceptive statement. It is a lie. Since Harry Boon was appointed a director on 5 May 2008 we’ve had 969 trading days on the ASX. He couldn’t find any window, not one, in 969 opportunities. This is patently not true as co-directors Lindsey Cattermole and Tony Clarke found windows.] 


I’ll need to buy a lot to make a difference at this price.”

Comment

Harry Boon must think everyone is stupid. 


Governance at PaperlinX is conveniently ignored by its Chairman and condoned by his Board. Here are the unpleasant facts on the public record. 


This isn't the first time they’ve been published here and won’t be the last.

• Harry Boon is in breach of Board Policy – see 4 Years of Governance Abuse by Harry Boon 
• Michael McConnell is in breach of Board Policy and the Company’s Constitution – see Breach of Constitution by Director Mike McConnell 
• Toby Marchant hasn’t bought a share in over eight years. 

These three directors have demonstrated no confidence in PaperlinX. Why should investors express confidence in them? Watch what people do, not what they say.

Ansellisation - the new strategy

Harry Boon has suddenly thought up a new idea for PaperlinX – Ansellisation. It’s discussed elsewhere in today’s Financial Review, Link Here.

For readers unfamiliar with Australian corporate history Ansell Limited listed on the ASX in 2002. Ansell is a global provider of protection solutions, such as surgical, examination, industrial and household gloves, protective clothing and condoms (condoms comprise about 10% of the business, but it’s what Ansell is famous for).


Maybe his PR people didn’t like the negative tone of the ASX release on Monday, see here.

Not sure how this “eve of EGM” concept fits in with the Strategic Review, which took six months, but that’s a mere detail when a Chairmanship and $275,000 per annum is at stake. Maybe Harry Boon is now an executive Chairman?


I wonder what Toby Marchant thinks of Ansellisation, although to be fair he’s Ansellised a lot of fine paper businesses over the past decade – if you get my drift.

Why Ansell and Ansellisation?

Harry Boon’s claim to fame is 28 years at Ansell. What his CV conveniently omits is that after 26 years he became CEO and MD of Ansell Limited, the listed entity, but “retired” on June 30, 2004, after just 27 months at the helm and at age 56. 


Most unusual behaviour for such an ambitious man. One could say he was a one trick pony. 

Harry Boon wearing an Ansellised smile

Where did Harry Boon go after 28 years @ Ansell? 

It is important to note he hasn't appeared on the boards of any Australian healthcare companies after 28 years with one of the global leaders in healthcare. I find this odd – very odd indeed.


He first pops up as a founding non-executive director at Hastie Group (HST) in December 2004 which has been an abject failure – see here.  YES, the shares have fallen from $40 to 40¢. Harry Boon is still a director, presumably because he feels obliged to see the task through. What task - oblivion? 


Especially note that Harry Boon has no excuses at Hastie Group as he was a founding director.


In May 2005, he secured a plum appointment as Chairman of Tatts Group (TTS) a gaming business holding excellent licences going back 100 years. It hasn’t been a flash performer either – see here. Fancy not being able to make a roaring success of gambling in Australia. 


Then he became Chairman at Gale Pacific (GAP) on 25 August 2005, another miserable investment – see here. Note that Harry Boon resigned in November 2009. 


Has Harry Ansellised all these companies too? Looks like it to me.

Shareholder arriving at the EGM believes she needs to Ansellised too






UK restructure complete? Don’t you believe it.


This hit my inbox last night. It is complete except for two pieces of personal identification X’d out. 


It is one of many such letters I receive; however this writer supplied his full name, other ID, wasn’t abusive and confirmed everything I hear in one succinct email. 


With these attributes, he sounds like he could be a good sales rep!


Now I know why our UK audience is so high. Its concerned PaperlinX employees because there are few investors domiciled in the UK.


Hi Graham,

I've been following Paperlinxsux for the last couple of months. I hope your influence gains success for the PXUPA holders and the fortunes of Paperlinx can be turned round by Andrew Price.

I can confirm what you have probably been told by many other people.


Boys club within senior management in the U.K. May have been re-structured and making some money, but there are still 3 companies with 3 md's, sales directors etc, plus many other umpteen layers of management all making the sales force report back on pointless exercises. 


Morale is rock bottom as all the sales guys do is reporting, rather than focusing on selling. They're stressed out waiting for the axe to fall, when really it is management that need clearing out. Andrew Price should make the UK one of his priorities.

When I worked at XXXXXXX, many of my customers reported of orders placed for multiple items being delivered on 3 separate vehicles, 3/4 empty from 3 different locations. DeliveryCo*** was a fiasco with agency drivers often used who would not have a clue about handling paper. 

All that's really happened in the UK so far is a thinning out of the ground troops when in reality it could be argued they are needed for hunting out new business, unfettered by middle management trying to justify themselves with demands for reporting.

I believe there has been a consultancy business^^^ working at Hornes for the last year or so advising them what they should already know. I bet that's wasted yet more PXUPA money that should have gone to you. 

Anyway enough of my rant! 


XXXXXXX personal close here XXXXXXX.

Important Late Note

I sought confirmation of certain aspects of this letter from a reliable source in the UK. The responses are truly scary for PaperlinX investors. Again, respondent's words are in green italic text, my comment in blue.


^^^ The UK paper merchant contributor is well informed.

Consultants have been crawling over all three businesses over the last eighteen months – particularly Robert Horne Paper. You would have thought that the senior management team at PaperlinX would know what is required to turn a business around – but not these clowns. They are much more comfortable farming it out to consultants for an eye watering fee. 


The brilliant solution they came up with between them? Shut down the sales offices, bin most of the inside and outside sales guys and have a call centre operation in Northampton. Pitiful. Other competitor merchants such as Premier Paper, Elliott Baxter and Denmaur are cleaning up - in a weak market too. 


Those merchants continue to maintain contact with customers through regional sales offices and good regional sales staff. The other huge merchant in the UK, Antalis, has quietly and efficiently restructured but has not made the monumental error of going down the call centre route yet.


Word on the street is that Antalis hold the view that it’s not clever to be the first merchant to go down this road. They will be happy to go second if it is proven to work. They won’t be doing it any time soon!


The really sad thing is that Toby Marchant cannot restructure three companies in the UK, where he's had allegedly 30 years experience. Or didn't the directors realise this in their ASX release on Monday?


*** "I mentioned to you in an earlier email that DeliveryCo is headed up by John Ball. John was Toby’s logistics manager (not sure if that was his job title) at MoDo back then. As I said previously – there is a pattern emerging here!" Nepotism

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