Fuel Cell Technologies Announces Layoffs and Board Resignations
Fuel Cell Technologies Ltd. (FCTL) announced that it has provided notice of termination of employment to all of its employees effective October 2, 2006. To allow FCTL to fulfill substantially all of its existing business commitments, employees have been provided with a combination of working notice and severance.
FCTL also announced that John Varghese, A. Cameron Thompson, Christopher H. McElvaine and J. Christopher McFarlane have resigned from the Board of Directors. Dr. John Stannard will remain the sole director at this time.
"We thank all of the Board members and staff for their support during a difficult time in the company's history," said Dr. John Stannard. "In light of the feedback we have received from financial institutions, our current financial status, and the limited number of orders in the sales pipeline, we regrettably feel that it is in the shareholders' and employees' best interests to provide notice to employees at this time."
McFarlane, FCTL's Chief Financial Officer has resigned as an employee but has agreed to continue as CFO under the terms of a consulting agreement for a period of up to twelve months to assist with the sale or wind-up of FCTL and its business. Similarly, Stannard has also resigned as an employee, and will continue under the terms of a consulting agreement for a period of up to twelve months to assist with FCTL's efforts to conclude its business. Both of these consulting agreements are structured to provide reasonable retention incentives to complete a timely and successful conclusion of FCTL's business in a way that is intended to maximize shareholder value.
FCTL will hold a special meeting of shareholders at the earliest practical date in 2007 to seek shareholder approval for any sale transaction requiring that approval, or alternatively, the wind-up and dissolution of the company. In the interim, FCTL has retained the financial advisory services of Research Capital Corporation (RCC) to assist and facilitate a potential transaction either raising capital or seeking potential purchasers for all of the issued and outstanding capital of FCTL. FCTL has agreed to pay RCC a success fee equal to 8.00% of the gross proceeds from such a sale, payable at the time of closing of the potential transaction.
