NEWARK, NY -- IEC Electronics says a pair of proxy advisors are recommending stockholders support the current board in its battle for control of the company. 

The EMS firm said today that Glass Lewis & Co. is recommending that stockholders vote for two of the seven nominees on a opposition slate, while and Institutional Shareholder Services suggests that stockholders vote for three of the alternate nominees.

IEC's largest single shareholder, Vintage Capital Management, has been highly critical of the company's management, and has proposed an alternate slate of directors, including a former president of the EMS company.

In a press release issued today by IEC, Glass Lewis said, "We believe Vintage has identified areas of concern at IEC with respect to recent performance, ongoing operational challenges and corporate governance deficiencies. However, we don't believe [Vintage] has presented a compelling argument or demonstrated sufficient cause to warrant shareholders' full support of its plan to replace the entire IEC board and install the company's ousted former president in hopes of reviving IEC's performance after two disappointing years. While IEC performed well when [former executive Jeff] Schlarbaum was its vice president of sales and marketing, serving under current CEO [Barry] Gilbert, we aren't convinced he and an entirely new board of directors would be capable of leading IEC to a better outcome than the current leadership team."

Schlarbaum, a member of the slate proposed by Vintage, was president of IEC from October 2010 to February 2013.

Glass Lewis argued that IEC's overall performance was "more likely due to the management and direction of Gilbert and the current directors than the efforts of Schlarbaum," and noted that Vintage's ownership of IEC competitor API Technologies could hinder IEC shareholders' ability to gain a premium should the company be acquired.

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