Ian Penman

Volante declined to comment when asked to respond to the content of the memo, which was reportedly sent  to the entire Volante staff list, saying only that the company received it from an anonymous external source and the view is that it is inaccurate and potentially defamatory.

Painting a picture of alleged low staff morale and deteriorating company performance, the memo from a group calling itself the "Save Volante Group (SVG)" claims that as boss of the company for the past 14 months, Mr Penman must wear the blame.

According to the memo, which displayed detailed knowledge of the internal operations of the company, the situation at Volante has deteriorated markedly in the past year. The memo claims that new clients remain elusive, costs have increased while profits continue to shrink, the company is fractured, communication channels are poor, and innovation is stifled at every level.

The memo also claims that there has been a staggering talent drain at Volante, with a staff turnover of more than 50% equating to about 570 staff in the past 18 months - including many of Volante's best directors, managers and employees. According to the memo, this has negatively affected staff morale.

Referring to Volante management's declared strategy of pushing services ahead of products, the memo claims that the real reason services has pushed ahead of the products division is  that the products line of Volantes business has been neglected.

The memo goes on to complain that there appears to be little vision, strategy or direction for improving Volante's performance beyond staff redundancies. According to the memo, employees, managers and ex-directors are openly voicing their dismay, while emails, cartoons and jokes bemoaning the state of the company are circulating within the company.{moscomment}