Mr Malcolm Walker, the chairman and founder of the frozen food outlet specialist Iceland which has many Irish branches, has resigned following a dispute over his sale of shares just weeks before a veiled profit warning, the company said today.
The announcement was made as the company delivered a fresh blow to shareholders. Iceland warned profit expectations would have to come down even further.
The company expects profits this year to be no more than £62 million sterling and there will be an additional one-off charge of around £34 million sterling.
Walker angered investors by selling four million shares at about 339p - close to a five-year high - between the 14th and the 19th of December.
Six weeks after the £13.5 million sterling ($19.71 million) windfall the company revealed sales had deteriorated.
The stock is now around 44 per cent below Mr Walker's selling price.
Reuters