Bytes CEO Neil Murphy has resigned after failing to disclose share trades.
Murphy has tendered his resignation, effective today, the LSE-listed firm confirmed in a stock exchange announcement this afternoon.
“Neil Murphy has also notified the Board today that he has made a number of trades in the Company’s shares that had not been disclosed to the Company or the market in compliance with the PDMR disclosure requirements,” the statement read.
“The Board is working to clarify the details of these undisclosed trades.”
Murphy led Bytes through a period of frenetic growth, overseeing its acquisition of rival Phoenix Software in 2017 and its stock market flotation in 2020. It ranked 4th in IT Channel Oxygen’s recent Oxygen 250.
Executive Director and Phoenix MD Sam Mudd has been named interim CEO.
The software licensing and software asset management powerhouse’s shares plunged by as much as a fifth on the news, before recovering somewhat this evening.
Bytes’ top line broke the £1bn in the first half of its fiscal 2024, on the back of some meaty public sector licensing wins.
Trading for the full year, which ends on 29 February 2024, has been “in line with the Board’s expectations”, Bytes stressed today.
Stuart Fenton, Chairman of Microsoft partner Ingentive, described the news as “hugely disappointing”.
“Neil led the company to extraordinary levels of success through good strategy and execution through a very strong team,” he told IT Channel Oxygen.
“It seems that he made an error with share trading and that’s a cardinal sin for public companies.
“Fortunately, Sam Mudd is also an exceptionally good leader. Hopefully she will retain the role and continue to build the company atop Neil’s achievements. I would hate to see an outsider step in.
“Softcat have developed an outstanding succession process and Bytes have this too with Sam, thus retaining culture and respect internally and externally.”
