Sam Morgan to step down from Xero board

Trade Me [NZX: TME] founder and serial tech investor Sam Morgan will step down from the board of Xero [NZX: XRO] at the accounting software developer's annual meeting next month.

Mr Morgan has backed Xero since 2007, buying shares at $1 apiece in the initial public offering and holding an independent directorship before listing. Morgan, who chairs the people and remuneration committee and is a member of the nominations committee, won't seek re-election at the July 20 meeting when he retires by rotation, the notice of annual meeting said.

"On behalf of the board, we are extremely grateful for Sam's contribution and wish him all the best in his future endeavours," chairman Chris Liddell said.

Last year Mr Morgan joined Xero co-founder Rod Drury and fellow director Craig Winkler in cashing in on a rally in the software company's shares. In November, Messrs Drury and Winkler each sold one million shares at $20.01, reaping some $20 million apiece, while Morgan sold 500,000 shares at the same price for about $10 million. Mr Morgan owns about 3.4% of Xero through Jasmine Investment Holdings.

The shares were recently up 4.8% to $17.81. Last week, Morningstar Research put a target price of $21 a share, predicting Xero will start spitting out profits from 2020.

Xero received a waiver from the NZX to hold the meeting in Sydney, with Australia becoming increasingly important to the software developer. The waiver notice shows 58%  of Xero's 16,232 shareholders are based across the Tasman and collectively own 21%. It is listed on both the NZX and the ASX.

Mr Liddell said the meeting is the first held outside New Zealand and recognises Australia is Xero's biggest customer base and "remains an incredibly important market for us in terms of our long-term growth strategy."

Shareholders will vote on whether to re-elect Mr Liddell and US-based Bill Veghte to the board and also to approve the granting of options for the pair to subscribe to $220,000 and $176,000 of shares respectively to cover their directors' fees.

Investors will also decide whether to approve $70,000 of shares to remunerate Australian director Lee Hatton for her role on the board.

(BusinessDesk)