Bennett Environmental Inc. says it wants to form ties with real estate companies to clean up and redevelop contaminated urban sites.
At the Bennett annual meeting in Toronto, the troubled soil cleanup company said urban redevelopment is one of the areas in which it wants to expand, now that it has put regulatory "distractions" behind it.
Ideally, the Oakville, Ont.-based company would clean up contamination on these "brownfield" projects, and then its partner would develop the properties.
No deals have been signed yet, but Bennett has held discussions with a number of potential partners for Canadian sites, chairman David Williams said after the meeting.
He and chief financial officer Andrew Boulanger, who together run the company while it searches for a new chief executive officer, told shareholders that a number of serious problems affecting the company are now in the past.
Bennett signed a settlement with the Ontario Securities Commission in June, admitting that for several months it failed to disclose important information about problems with a contract to clean up contaminated soil from a site in New Jersey. Last fall, it signed an out-of-court settlement to end a class-action law suit on the same issue.
Bennett also recently restated its 2003 and 2005 financial results.
Now, with operating costs coming under control, it is set to boost its sales efforts, Mr. Boulanger said. Bennett will focus its efforts in eastern North America, Mr. Boulanger said, because of the number of contaminated sites in that region, and the proximity to its treatment plants in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. It also wants to reduce reliance on large contracts -- especially those from governments -- and work more with joint venture partners.
Still, Mr. Williams said it is difficult to project when the company will turn around financially. He said Bennett has quoted on a "tremendous amount of potential business," but the sales cycle is very long, and customers take a great deal of time to get financing in place before they issue contracts.
At the annual meeting, shareholders approved the appointment of several new directors, including three members of a slate proposed by Vancouver-based investment firm Second City Capital Partners, Bennett's largest shareholder.
The new directors include Second City partner Christopher Wallace, former federal cabinet minister Benoît Bouchard, Toronto businessman Michael Blair, and Michael Fleischer, president of Ramsey, N.J.-based sound system company Bogen Communications International Inc.
One issue left off the agenda was a vote on a name change. Bennett had planned to have shareholders vote on a proposal to rename the company Terra Cycle Environmental Inc., but it has postponed the decision until the new board has a chance to deliberate on the issue.
Demonstrators from a company with a similar name -- TerraCycle Inc. -- protested outside the meeting, asking shareholders to permanently shelve the name change. TerraCycle is a New Jersey-based company that makes fertilizer from worm droppings, and markets its product in Canada and the United States.
Bennett has begun the process of looking for a new CEO to replace Allan Bulckaert, who resigned in July. Mr. Williams said the company has established a short list of three search firms, and will ask one of them to conduct a detailed search for the new boss. But a new CEO will not likely be in place for three to six months, he said.
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