No nominations by dissident shareholders make Sherritt International’s board

TORONTO – A dissident group of shareholders has failed in its attempt to appoint its own nominations to the board at Sherritt International Inc.

A vote held at the company’s annual general meeting saw the majority of shareholders name all nine of Sherritt’s director nominations to the board. The dissident group had put forward its own five names.

Sherritt (TSX:S) has been fighting for the past few months with the group, which had also asked for the resignation of president and CEO David Pathe.

The group, led by Clarke Inc. and its chief executive George Armoyan, holds a 5.4 per cent stake in Sherritt.

One of the contentious issues is whether Sherritt executives need to pay back $2.2 million they received in compensation as a result of the U.S. Helms -Burton Act, which is meant to discourage doing business in Cuba, where Sherritt has operations.

Last week, the miner said higher financing costs, a lower Canadian dollar and costs associated with starting commercial production at its mine in Madagascar hit the most recent quarter.

It said it lost $48.2 million, or 16 cents per diluted share in the three-month period. A year earlier it had earned a profit of $23.1 million or eight cents per share.

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