Goldleaf Financial Solutions yesterday announced the resignation of Chief Financial Officer Scott Craighead, amid a three-day sell-off that saw the company's stock lose more than a third its market value.
The resignation followed the Brentwood company's report of a half-year operating loss of $225,000, compared with $783,000 in income halfway through 2006. Revenue in 2Q 2007 was up 4.6 percent over 2Q 2006, to $14.7 million.
The stock has spent much of the past year trading above $5 and $6 and peaked at $13, but it's 52-week low is pegged at $1.431. On Tuesday, the stock tumbled about 20 percent. Goldleaf closed Wednesday, following a further decline, at $3.54. This morning the stock opened at $3.50 and has subsequently fallen to $3.46 on light volume.
The earlier departure of former Chief Technology Officer Paul McCulloch created a drag on Goldleaf's financial results: Management told analysts May 29 that $558,000 in severance payments were a key factor. Technology is at the heart of the Goldleaf enterprise, which provides payment-processing solutions for smaller financial institutions.
According to an SEC filing yesterday, the company will pay Craighead advisory fees of $20,000 per month following his departure, effective Aug. 31. At the same time, portions of an earlier employment agreement will be terminated.
Craighead returned to Goldleaf in his current role in 2005. During an earlier period, he served as vice president for financial management for the firm now known as Goldleaf.
Through the first half, Goldleaf continued to absorb management teams and customers through acquisitions of software and services providers DataTrade and Community Banking Systems.
Following the DataTrade acquisition in May, CEO Lynn Boggs noted in a release that payment-processing is "becoming more tightly integrated." He explained that by "acquiring leaders in the payments space, we believe Goldleaf is building significant domain knowledge..."
Executive Vice President Scott Meyerhoff will stand-in as CFO, pending recruitment of Craighead's replacement. Meyerhoff has not yet returned a call placed Wednesday evening by NashvillePost.com.
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