I think it's worth reflecting on what the Board said of the now departing CEO when they appointed her in July last year.

Part of my readings of this was that she was expected to far better suited than the outgoing CEO Tom Cregan to deal with the Irish regulatory debacle. Now the deck chairs are being moved again. The board is responsible for overseeing risk, which the Bank of Ireland and the Sentenial Fraud stuff suggests they've failed at. The board is responsible for appointing the CEO, which they've self-evidently failed at. The board is responsible for strategy. If you look at what they were spruiking at the 2022 AGM to what they announced today I think the kindest thing you could say about their management of strategy was they were late to adapt...and that would be real kind.

I've been critical of this Board before and that remains the case. Their new operational priority includes cost optimisation. To that end I wouldn't bother putting the new CEO's name on the door as I'm not sure he's going to be there that long.

[Not held]

So let me get this right - EML's Board are happy to talk about external interest in the company in April (even naming Bain as the interested party), just before releasing an earnings downgrade, but say nothing about other interests in June, after they've tanked, and only do so after it is revealed by the AFR? Forget about changing the CEO - this company is needs to put the broom to work in the Boardroom. Fully committed to acting in the best interests of shareholders my arse.