Re: Charles Morgan fights back

Re: Charles Morgan fights back

Friday 18th October 2013

Charles Morgan fights back

UPDATE - Charles Morgan has issued a statement; read it and the story behind it here



The Morgan saga took another twist today when we learned that Charles Morgan was in effect ousted by his own family. Board member Craig Hamilton-Smith told PistonHeads that the decision to remove him from the company was a "board and shareholders" decision. Given that parent company Morgan Technologies is 100 per cent owned by the Morgan family, that means the family agreed Charles should go.

Morgan is fighting back via social media
Morgan is fighting back via social media
Charles is clearly very unhappy about being removed the company his grandfather started in 1910 and told PistonHeads he is appealing the decision. Hamilton-Smith, a garden designer by profession, confirmed to us that legal proceedings are under way and that a hearing is going to be held next Friday.

This all kicked off on Monday when Morgan issued a very short statement declaring that Charles Morgan "is no longer part of the management team or Board of Directors of the company".

In what has turned out to be a PR nightmare for Morgan, Charles instantly responded by retweeting all the messages of support and outrage from Morgan fans to his many followers on the social media website.

Even worse for the company, the tweets of support for Charles seemingly included Morgan employees, who looked to have set up their Twitter account on Tuesday. The first tweet was "the general feel around the factory is we would like @charlesmorganuk back".

Followed by, "We can't believe the company is not being run by a Morgan family member".

Revived 3-Wheeler has been a recent success
Revived 3-Wheeler has been a recent success
The Morgan Motor Company then issued a fuller release saying that it "recognised the management contribution that Charles has made to the family business as Strategy Director" but by then the damage had well and truly been done.

"It's fair to say the story is now out of control," we were told by a PR specialist within the car industry, who didn't want to be named. "Given that he was apparently not consulted about the press release, the company must have known that Charles Morgan would go to the mattresses in the way that he has done, particularly on social media."

According to the@mogemplyees account there was little communication with the people who work at the factory. "The truth is the workforce don't know what is going on with the board" a message said yesterday.

Charles's actress wife Kiera also put the boot in, tweeting this morning via @MorganKiera, "Today is the 10 year anniversary of Peter Morgan's death. I hope he can ['t] see the tears of his grandchildren and the unnecessary pain."

Morgan was undergoing a renaissance under the leadership of Charles Morgan and his replacement as managing director earlier this year, long-time employee Steve Morris, and last year almost tripled profits to £1.5 million after producing 1,122 cars.

Fingers crossed they can find an amicable solution to this and get back on track. Meanwhile for Sniff Petrol's take see here.


Statement from Charles Morgan, issued 18/10/13:
As has been widely reported, I have been asked to leave the Morgan Motor Company by the board. It is a sad decision that I am appealing; I remain a major shareholder in Morgan.

I'm proud to say I leave with the company's annual production volumes double what they were at the start of my tenure, with new export markets such as China opened to the company. Morgan remains a small but successful family firm.

I'd like to be clear that I am not a tycoon but a family man - I inherited a company not wealth - and unexpectedly leaving its employment will be a hardship for myself and my family. Being asked to leave the company that bears my name is also extremely personally distressing. That is made more painful as today marks 10 years since my father, Peter Morgan, died and I feel him in spirit with me in this dispute.

However my primary concern is completely for the company I have spent 30 years helping to build, and specifically for Morgan's employees, who I hold in the highest regard. I want nothing but success for Morgan Motor Company in the future and remain committed to this goal.

I am very grateful for the expressions of support received on twitter and elsewhere, particularly from the employees of Morgan.

I will be making no further statements for the time being.

- Charles Morgan
@charlesmorganuk


[Sources: talking to folk, Twitter, Sniff Petrol, Charles Morgan]

Author
Discussion

Drclarke

Original Poster:

1,185 posts

172 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
There must be more to this than meets the eye.

Charles Morgan wouldnt of been ousted by his own family for no good reason.

Evo

3,462 posts

253 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
And the reason for ousting Charles Morgan was...........

Gandahar

9,600 posts

127 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
"Hamilton-Smith, a garden designer by profession"

If this was in court that might be referred to as trying to lead the jury to back one party.




jeremyc

23,335 posts

283 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
a PR specialist quoted in the article said:
Given that he was apparently not consulted about the press release, the company must have known that Charles Morgan would go to the mattresses in the way that he has done, particularly on social media.
Is the term "mattresses" some trendy phrase used within the PR world, or the work of an errant spell checker/autocomplete?

confused

JohnT993

101 posts

152 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
I like the idea that people on the shop floor would be consulted on who is best placed to run a £30m turnover company!

agree there must be more to this but unlikely the full story will emerge...

Mastiff

2,515 posts

240 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
jeremyc said:
s the term "mattresses" some trendy phrase used within the PR world, or the work of an errant spell checker/autocomplete?

confused
It's an old Mafia expesion, referring to preparing for a fight!

A Scotsman

1,000 posts

198 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
Anyone spotted any Malaysian's or even a rep from a private equity company visiting the company?

vincegail

2,456 posts

154 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
jeremyc said:
s the term "mattresses" some trendy phrase used within the PR world, or the work of an errant spell checker/autocomplete?

confused
Maffia slang. When the members of the family are sleeping on mattresses to be ready for action.
---> going to battle
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=goi...

Dan Trent

1,866 posts

167 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
jeremyc said:
a PR specialist quoted in the article said:
Given that he was apparently not consulted about the press release, the company must have known that Charles Morgan would go to the mattresses in the way that he has done, particularly on social media.
Is the term "mattresses" some trendy phrase used within the PR world, or the work of an errant spell checker/autocomplete?

confused
I did ask Nick about this and it is apparently a recognised saying and appears in The Godfather but going back quite a bit further. See here.

Every day a school day etc...

Cheers!

Dan

jeremyc

23,335 posts

283 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
Mastiff said:
jeremyc said:
Is the term "mattresses" some trendy phrase used within the PR world, or the work of an errant spell checker/autocomplete?

confused
It's an old Mafia expesion, referring to preparing for a fight!
thumbup Every day is a learning day. smile

Urban Dictionary said:
Going to war with a rival clan or family. Used in the mafia. Its when a mafia family sends someone out to get someone apartments and some mattresses for the soldiers of the family to sleep on while they hide out in saftey, waiting for a call to do something.

randlemarcus

13,507 posts

230 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
jeremyc said:
s the term "mattresses" some trendy phrase used within the PR world, or the work of an errant spell checker/autocomplete?

confused
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/159900.html

I've not heard that one for a few years - he must be an old PR person biggrin

Richair

1,021 posts

196 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
Agreed this all seems a bit odd to me; why oust a director who has seemingly helped Morgan turn a corner. If they've got any sense, all will be revealed before further damage to the reputation is done.

Call me cynical, but the question in my mind is has this happened because the old guard don't like the direction the company is heading in, maybe they see too much success as damaging for what is a very niche brand...

Beefmeister

16,482 posts

229 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
I'm sure there is more to this, I heard it was a falling out over the direction of the company. Charles wanted to get more technological with Ali/carbon etc, the others wanted to stay more traditional.

Either way this has massively backfired from a PR point of view. They need to get him back asap before too much damage is done.

Ozzie Osmond

21,189 posts

245 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
Daily Mail today reports that,

  • Charles Morgan's sister controls 10% of the shares
  • A family trust controls 50% of the shares, and "one of the Trustees is the husband of Charles Morgan's sister".
So with 60% in the bag it's pretty clear who's ousted Charles Morgan!!

_Neal_

2,658 posts

218 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
Drclarke said:
There must be more to this than meets the eye.
Absolutely this. If he's been ousted by his own family, there's other (unknown) issues in play here.

And quite why the workforce would expect to be consulted on or even aware of board-level decisions I don't know.


_Neal_

2,658 posts

218 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
Ozzie Osmond said:
Daily Mail today reports that,

  • Charles Morgan's sister controls 10% of the shares
  • A family trust controls 50% of the shares, and "one of the Trustees is the husband of Charles Morgan's sister".
So with 60% in the bag it's pretty clear who's ousted Charles Morgan!!
I don't think it's clear at all. There will most likely be other trustees, so for all we know the sister and her husband could have been in favour of keeping him, and another minority shareholder (plus a majority of the other trustees) could have been the decision-makers.

Think we should avoid speculating until we have some actual facts.

oilit

2,618 posts

177 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
get him over to Aston Martin - then they can have Dr Bez at Morgan and he can get back to making cars - which he proclaims to be so good at !!!!!!

sisu

2,576 posts

172 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
As a contrast here is an inteview with Horatio Pagani explaining why he has stayed small even after being offered large amounts of money and what makes him tick.
Full article here

There isn’t an exclusivity any more. When I was a kid I heard a phrase then now I use often: “It’s better to be a mouse’s head than a lion’s tail” meaning that it’s better to stay small and that will continue to stay our main philosophy. We’ve had offers from big companies that wanted us to really use the brand, make thousands of cars a year but this is a company that is 90% owned by myself and my family. I have an American partner, the co-inventor of the mouse, they follow the US market much like we do here, a family that made its wealth from zero. So while I welcome passionate people that want to work here, I’m not interested in big corporations that want to change the way we do things, make the company public… no thank you. I want to stay here, with my dog, my bicycle…

Ozzie Osmond

21,189 posts

245 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
_Neal_ said:
I don't think it's clear at all. There will most likely be other trustees, so for all we know the sister and her husband could have been in favour of keeping him, and another minority shareholder (plus a majority of the other trustees) could have been the decision-makers.
Better read the Daily Mail. It says in their printed paper that the trust has TWO trustees, one being the sister's husband. Sounds as though the sister and her husband are in the driving seat.

grosserbaby

142 posts

167 months

Friday 18th October 2013
quotequote all
If I remember correctly they operate alphabet shares, I think a 50/50 split, the Peter Morgan Trust has about 50% of "a" shares and the "b" shares are with Charles, and others including Hamilton Smith, his sister and an other. It rather depends on how the articles are set up for voting and I would imagine Charles is probably a trustee on the Peter Morgan Trust too.