Andrew Green, Staff Reporter
Bruce Cohen
BRUCE COHEN, chairman of Courts Jamaica Limited and director Howard Cohen have resigned from their positions, the company's 2004 annual report stated. Bruce Cohen was the managing director and chief executive officer of Courts Plc and Howard Cohen was its deputy group managing director. Courts Jamaica Limited is a subsidiary of Courts Group International, with the ultimate parent company being Courts Plc, based in England.
The resignations of Bruce Cohen and Howard Cohen, effective June 15 and July 15 respectively, passed almost without reference at the Courts Jamaica annual meeting earlier this month. Courts Plc. is 52 per cent owned by the Cohen family.
Courts Jamaica managing director Hayden Singh said the company had cut the number of non-executive directors because of the nature of its business.
"For the size of the business that we have, we need more executive than non-executive directors," Mr. Singh told shareholders. "We are a large company with a very dynamic 'hands on' business, so we need executive directors with authority to make an impact."
He said, "with non-executive directors, I fail to see how coming to a board meeting once every quarter will give the same hands on experience."
The managing director also mentioned the high cost of flying directors into the island.
The original slate of four non-executive directors on the Courts board was further reduced as Robert Humphries chose not to serve another term. That leaves only Keith Fredricks, the former Courts managing director, who retired in 1994 after serving over 30 years with the company as an executive.
The resignation of the Cohens comes against the background of a plan being implemented to merge the Courts operations around the Caribbean under one umbrella company, expected to be listed on regional stock exchanges in the middle of next year. Rather than report directly to their parent company in England, the individual regional companies would instead report to a regional headquarters.
The company has more than 100 furniture stores in the United Kingdom and another 250 outlets in 21 other countries. In addition to its big Jamaica operations, the Courts group in the Caribbean has outlets in Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Antigua, St. Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Kitts and St. Vincent.
Courts Plc. has had financial problems recently, which were not helped by the impact of Hurricane Ivan on its regional operations. Additionally, the Caribbean operations are performing well, but their profits appear less attractive when translated back into British currency, which has performed well, relative to the U.S. dollar.
