Joel MacDonald has stepped down as CEO of logistics software company and chairman Bane Hunter has taken on the role as “part of the company’s ongoing program to continually develop its governance practices as it grows”.
In a statement to the ASX, the company added that Michael Fricklas, the chief legal officer of Advance Publications, and David Ryan, former chairman of Transurban Group, have been appointed to its board of directors.
With Fricklas taking on the role of independent chairman, Hunter will step down as executive chairman however remain an executive director, while MacDonald will take on the title of president, and remain an executive director.
In welcoming Fricklas and Ryan to the board, Hunter said both have worked as consultants for GetSwift over the last few months.
“Our new directors have extensive governance, operational, and M&A experience with leading global public companies and have served with distinction,” he said.
“We feel that not only is the experience right, but the chemistry is right, to assist us with both our growth and our implementation of the more sophisticated governance practices of larger companies. We are all looking forward to working together to make GetSwift the most successful company in its field.”
It has been a long 2018 for GetSwift; after the high of raising $75 million in December following a market announcement stating it had signed a deal with Amazon, the company’s shares were suspended in January following a report in the Australian Financial Review that questioned details around contracts and revenue figures announced by the company.
While GetSwift had announced it had signed multi-year deals with Fantastic Furniture and The Fruit Box Company, the AFR reported that they had not continued to used the company’s software beyond an initial trial, while Commonwealth Bank told the AFR that GetSwift had “moved prematurely” in announcing revenue forecasts in December for a partnership that is still only in the trial stage.
In a response to questions from the ASX, GetSwift explained that its contracts for enterprise clients – which it classes as national or multinational organisations with monthly potential volumes of over 10,000 deliveries – are set up to initially run for two years, with “initial periods of testing and integration”.
The company, which engaged PwC to assess its compliance and governance framework, added that the majority of its announced enterprise client contracts “continue to progress through various pre-revenue generation phases”.
With its shares now trading at $0.41, down from $4.60 in December, a third class action was filed against GetSwift in mid-April.
Filed by legal firm Phi Finney McDonald with funding from Therium Australia, it followed those filed by Squire Patton Boggs and Corrs Chambers Westgarth, however the company is likely to face just one.
It is also being investigated by ASIC.
Image: Bane Hunter and Joel MacDonald. Source: Supplied.
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