WiseTech Global shares drop as chair retires, guidance is confirmed

The news: Shares of freight software developer WiseTech Global fell at the open after it revealed its chair of five years, Andrew Harrison, will retire in March. Independent non-executive director Richard Dammery will take over the role.

The decision was announced at the company's annual general meeting on Friday, where chief executive Richard White also confirmed the company's full-year earnings guidance.

The numbers: White told investors the business expects full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) growth of 18% to 27%, equating to $455 million to $490 million. Revenue from WiseTech's main offering, the CargoWise application suite, is tipped to rise by 34% to 43%.

Shares in the developer were 3.7% lower at $63.71 at 10:12am AEDT.

The context: White said the full-year guidance includes foreign exchange tailwinds due to Australian dollar weakness and upfront costs of buying Australian vendor Matchbox Exchange and Mexican software provider Sistemas Casa. The business produced strong full-year earnings for its past financial year. Net profit after tax was up 9% to $212.2 million. Investors received a higher fully-franked final dividend of 8.4 cents per share.