Following a board stoush last year and calls by shareholders at the company's AGM for a change in management, Polartechnics (ASX:PLT) CEO Victor Skladnev was yesterday replaced by Ben Dillon.

Australian biotech stocks underperformed both the All Ordinaries and the Nasdaq Biotech Index in 2005, but the second half of the year was brighter with stocks gaining 23.2 per cent, according to the Intersuisse Biotechnology Index.

After a turbulent year, Sydney-based Polartechnics (ASX:PLT) has seen a threefold increase in sales revenue for the 2004-05 financial year and is aiming to be profitable in the current year.

Dr Richard Opara, a substantial shareholder in biotech companies Polartechnics (ASX:PLT) and Avantogen (ASX:ACU), is trying to raise money for a new start-up capital biotech fund, but is finding the going tough in Australia and may have to go overseas to find the cash.

Sydney-based Polartechnics (ASX:PLT) has signed an exclusive agreement with Reliant Technologies to distribute the California-based company's Fraxel laser product range in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania.

Victor Skladnev won't talk about last Friday's extraordinary general meeting of Polartechnics (ASX:PLT) shareholders. Referring only to the "disruptions" -- in which erstwhile chairman Richard Opara tried and failed to replace Skladnev as CEO -- Skladnev is keen to put the past behind him and focus on driving profits into the company.

An extraordinary general meeting of Polartechnics (ASX:PLT) shareholders, requisitioned by the company's former interim chairman Richard Opara, has voted against each of the resolutions he put forward.

A Polartechnics (ASX:PLT) extraordinary general meeting (EGM) requisitioned by the company's former interim chairman Richard Opara will be held in Sydney this Friday, despite the company receiving a letter from him on August 8 proposing to postpone the meeting.

Medico and property investor Richard Opara resigned as interim chairman of Polartechnics (ASX:PLT) on June 8. The next day, US biotech executive Len Firestone stepped down as a director.

Polartechnics has announced an increase in unaudited revenue results for the financial year ending June 2005 by 280 per cent to AUD$6 million, compared to $2.1 million for the previous financial year.

Just under a week since Richard Opara stepped down from his role as interim chairman of Polartechnics (ASX:PLT) and resigned as director on June 8, his company Patonville, has served a requisition on Polartechnics to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting.