The departure of Eddy Groves and his wife Le Neve Groves, who have bothleft all their board and management positions, follows ongoing problemsfor the business, which has been beset by financial difficulties sinceMarch when its share price fell dramatically.
Meanwhile, Australian press reports last week said that ABC would appearbefore the Australian Industrial Relations Commission in Sydney amidallegations by a trade union that the company illegally reduced staffhours.
The Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union said it had receivedcomplaints from childcare workers in ABC centres about their hours beingcut.
In August, ABC announced a pre-tax annual loss to the end of July ofA$437m (204m, News 14 August).
Shares in ABC Learning have been suspended since 21 August after thecompany missed the August deadline to release its full financial resultsfor 2008.
Last month, the company said it would release the results at the end ofSeptember (News, 18 September), but last week that was put back toOctober.
ABC has appointed as interim chief executive Rowan Webb, who waspreviously managing director of retail group Colorado. He will receive asalary of dollars A133,333 a month.
ABC also revealed last week that it had bought childcare recruitmentbusiness 123 Careers for dollars A70m.
In a statement, the company said the buyout would allow ABC to reducethe cost of finding relief, agency and permanent staff, and to gain a'significant pool of potential employees and streamlined recruitmentsystems. It will also enable ABC to place a greater focus on recruitingpermanent staff over agency staff to further improve the quality ofearly childhood education and care'.
ABC is the owner of the UK's largest nursery group, Busy Bees.
