DroneShield responds to media criticism, picks interim US lead
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: Embattled defence tech company DroneShield has accepted that "its level of stakeholder engagement may not have met expectations" following the controversial selldown of shares by three of its directors, including CEO Oleg Vornik, earlier this month.
The context: Responding to a raft of media scrutiny over the past few days, DroneShield said it has appointed independent directors Simone Haslinger and Richard Joffe to oversee an independent review of its continuous disclosure and securities trading policies, as announced last week.
It has also appointed VP for sales and business development Tom Branstetter as its interim US lead, after the group's US chief executive Matt McCrann abruptly resigned last week.
Vornik reaffirmed his "unwavering commitment" to the company after selling $49.5 million worth of shares, at the same time as chair Peter James and Jethro Marks disposed of a combined shareholding of $17.3 million.
The move set off a steep selloff in DroneShield, which had been one of the star performers on the ASX over the past 12 months. It also raised questions around an erroneous contract announcement, which occurred two days before the selldown was disclosed, and was retracted as an "administrative error".
The source: ASX
