Article

Global Axcess CEO resigns

McQuain submitted his resignation because the board was not happy with the company’s financial performance, particularly in the past three quarters.

March 7, 2011

The board of directors of the one the nation’s largest independent ATM deployers (IAD) announced a management shakeup that has led to the departure of the company’s top officer.

George McQuain, CEO of Global Axcess Corp., a Jacksonville, Fla.-based IAD, has resigned  “to pursue other opportunities,” Global Axcess announced Friday. Global Axcess owns, manages or operates approximately 5,300 ATMs and other self-service DVD kiosks in 43 states.

Replacing McQuain are Lock Ireland, vice chairman of the company’s board of directors, and Michael I. Connolly, a director. The two will serve as co-CEO.

McQuain submitted his resignation because the board was not happy with the company’s financial performance, particularly in the past three quarters, Connolly said.

“This dissatisfaction continued as we reviewed the preliminary results for the fourth quarter,” he said. “As such, the company has implemented a variety of strategic initiatives specifically designed to reduce expenses, increase the profitability of our ATM business and accelerate the revenue from our DVD kiosk business.”

Global Axcess reported preliminary fourth-quarter 2010 revenue of $6.1 million compared with actual revenue of $5.4 million for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2010. The IAD expected preliminary revenue for the 2010 fiscal year of $22.7 million compared with actual revenue of $21.5 million for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2009.

Company officials listed eight strategic and operational initiatives to improve its financial performance. Some of the initiatives are:

1). Global Axcess has increased ATM surcharge fees at select ATMs to meet industry levels.

2). The company has launched a plan designed to field-service costs through the realignment of ATM field maintenance staff, deployment of kiosk hardware solutions that reduce service needs and the implementation of a priority-based field-service management system.

3). Global Axcess’ largest ATM customer has renewed its contract at the same financial terms.

4). Company management reached an agreement with a grocery chain to start the removal of unprofitable DVD kiosks.

Joseph Loughry, III, chairman of the board of directors, praised McQuain’s leadership, saying he had the foresight to anticipate the systematic challenges in the ATM business and position the company for long-term success by launching the DVD kiosk business.

Loughry added, however, that it was time for new senior leadership to take Global Axcess to the next level of development and unlock shareholder value. The company's stock was trading at 48 cents per share.