Lark Distilling Co have extended acting CEO and Managing Director, Laura McBain’s contract until February 2023.
Ms McBain will receive $550K per annum for the role in which she has sat in as Interim Director since February when CEO at the time, Geoff Bainbridge, dramatically resigned from his position following the release of video footage of him smoking ice.
When the scandal emerged, shares in the Tasmanian distillery dropped dramatically but since then, they have come some of the way back, buoyed by 30 year celebrations and legacy building by the distillery, a $4.5 million investment from the Australian government prior to the election and with the business on track to have 2 million litres of whisky under maturation by June end with a value of $400m.
Shares at Lark were up 15 per cent on Monday following a financial update provided by Lark and reported by The Australian Financial Review, showing a 51 per cent increase in net sales in the financial year to date to $13.5 million.
The announcement about Ms McBain was made to the ASX on Wednesday, following this update on the distillery’s financial year performance.
Fellow Directors David Dearie and Warren Randall continue as Chair and Non-Executive Director.
At the end of February, Lark said it was searching for the right CEO having engaged the services of London based recruitment firm, Denholme & Associates. It said that Ms McBain has committed to the distillery to remaining in the role until the right person “has been appointed and joins the business”.
The search, it seems, goes on.
