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Talk of the bay

Dissident team headed by ex-CEO of Walter Industries

By SCOTT BARANCIK
Published January 31, 2005

Robert Burton made waves during his brief tenure as chief executive of Walter Industries, a Tampa company he left after just 14 weeks in 2000.

Shortly after arriving with a goal of cutting $25-million in costs, Burton eliminated Walter's public relations department and its cafeteria, among other cuts. Morale spiraled downward.

Now he's trying to capsize the leadership of a publicly traded Vancouver, British Columbia, company, where he's leading a shareholder revolt.

Burton and other shareholders with a combined stake of just less than 6 percent have proposed their own slate of directors for Creo Inc., which bills itself as the world's largest supplier of prepress printing equipment. The dissidents have made it clear they aim to install Burton as Creo's chairman and CEO. They think Burton, who personally owns a 1.5 percent stake, would fix Creo's stock price, operating margins and "uncompetitive cost structure," according to a news release.

The news release trumpets Burton's leadership experience: his tenure as chairman, president and CEO of printer Moore Corp. from 2001 to 2002, and the same titles at World Color Press Inc. from 1991 to 1999. It does not mention his stormy months at Walter Industries.

Creo's current board of directors doesn't think a coup is such a good idea. In a recent news release, it called the dissidents' slate inexperienced and its proposals "vague" and "risky."

But the reformers' Web site, www.CreoDissidents.com says otherwise. The home page features a chart showing the company's stock-price declines, along with the slogan: "It is time to turn this picture around!"

[Last modified January 29, 2005, 16:41:02]