All change at the top at Phoenix IT Group

published 4 October 2012

Phoenix IT Group, information technology services, has announced the resignation of its Chief Executive Officer, David Courtley, who is planning to pursue other business interests.

The company was keen to underline the fact his departure is not related to the ongoing accounting investigation as previously announced, "which is of as much concern to David as it is to the remainder of the board", it added.

Following Courtley's departure, Peter Bertram, who is currently Non-Executive Chairman, will become Executive Chairman, while Jane Aikman, who is currently Chief Financial Officer, will retain that role and will also assume additional responsibilities to become Chief Operating Officer.

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According to Panmure Gordon, "the appointment of Bertram as Executive Chairman indicates to us that Phoenix IT is now for sale".

The broker added: "Bertram once stood tall in Capital Markets land - from 1998 to 2003 he 'fixed' the omni-shambles that was Azlan. Since then it is not Bertram, but the companies that have got smaller [...]

"There has long been a community of buyers for IT infrastructure service companies - they might be the lower rungs of the IT industry but they offer customer touch, managed services and are cheap. As we strip out the corporate discount from our target price, in order to reflect the Sum of the Parts value, we increase our target price from 147p to 173p. We move from Hold to Buy."

The firm's share price was unchanged by early afternoon.