Here’s a question that doesn’t crop up often. If you are a FTSE 100 company and your chief executive has been sentenced to two years in prison in Egypt, should you inform your shareholders promptly?
The company in question is Sainsbury’s, where the Times reveals (subscription) that Mike Coupe was convicted in absentia of embezzlement last September in bizarre proceedings that related to the supermarket chain’s short-lived business in Egypt 14 years ago.
According to Sainsbury’s, the case against Coupe is farcical, it should be said. They say he was in London on 15 July last year when it is claimed he seized cheques in the Egyptian city of Giza. If so, then no doubt Sainsbury’s lawyers will succeed in getting the case thrown out.
All the same, a conviction is a conviction and Coupe was obliged to travel to Egypt last weekend to enter an appeal. Shouldn’t companies reveal such facts to the market straight away? Sainsbury’s says its advice was that there was no need to say a thing. Common sense says proper disclosure includes disclosure of legal judgments even if they are unfounded.
