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Tech stocks - Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Hoku’s CEO Steps Down, Algenol Appoints Corporate Counsel

In a somewhat surprising announcement, polysilicon manufacturer Hoku Scientific (HOKU:NASDAQ) announced today that Dustin Shindo will be leaving his roles of chairman, president, and CEO at the end of March 2010. Mr. Shindo co-founded Hoku back in 2001 and will serve as a consultant to the company in the future.

The news shouldn’t be a total shock to investors as the company reported disastrous Q4 2009 results at the end of January. Reported revenues were a measly $259,000, a 66 percent decrease from the same quarter in the previous year. With Hoku scheduled to start polysilicon production at there new $390 million plant in Pocatello, Idaho, it appears the board of directors didn’t have enough confidence in Mr. Shindo to maximize the revenue potential of the plant.

Instead of searching for a high-profile candidate, Hoku’s board looked within the company and anointed COO Scott Paul as the new President and CEO. Mr. Paul originally joined Hoku back in 2003 as the VP of business development and general counsel before being promoted to COO in 2008.

Despite the management change, Hoku’s shares were down almost 4 percent in late afternoon trading.

While Hoku was promoting its former general counsel, low-cost ethanol manufacturer Algenol Biofuels announced today that it had hired Quang Ha as their General Counsel.

Mr. Ha’s hiring comes at a time when Florida-based Algenol seems poised for rapid growth. Recently Algenol received a $10 million grant from the Lee Bounty Board of Commissioners and a $25 million grant from the Department of Energy. Combine the money with high-profile partnerships with The Dow Chemical Company (DOW:NYSE) and The Linde Group, Algenol’s potentially swift business acceleration in the upcoming months should keep Mr. Ha extremely busy.

Instead of using corn to make their ethanol, Algenol uses CO2 and seawater that is combined with hybrid algae and sunlight to create low-cost ethanol that has a substantially higher yield per acre then corn. Algenol is also developing environmentally responsible chemical feedstock and plastics.