JANUARY 24 2018 - 4:17PM
SAVE PRINT LICENSE ARTICLE Tech company GetSwift's troubles could torpedo ex AFL player's fortune
Sarah Danckert
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Swift co-founder and chief executive Joel MacDonald, visiting Sydney in November. Photo: Kate Geraghty
It is the logistics company that catapulted its managing director, former Melbourne Football Club player Joel MacDonald, into the realms of the mega-rich with a wealth estimated at more than $120 million.
But now one-time market darling GetSwift is facing serious scrutiny from the Australian Securities Exchange after it emerged the company had not informed the market that it had lost key contracts that underpinned its recent success.
GetSwift’s shares were suspended from trade on Wednesday after spending the two prior days in a trading halt.
GetSwift is a loss-making company which sports a market capitalisation of $550.3 million against a 2017 revenue base of $336,356, and last traded on Friday at $2.92 per share.
Its share price is expected to plummet when the logistics software company resumes trade according to retail investor trading platforms.
GetSwift came under scrutiny from the ASX after it emerged the company had told the market it had signed deals with Fantastic Furniture and the Fruit Box but did not inform the market that both contracts were cancelled after a one-month pilot period.
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The company’s nascent deal with the Commonwealth Bank is also being questioned after it emerged it had announced the agreement while it was still in the pilot stage.
Mr McDonald is the company's biggest shareholder with a 22 per cent stake.
It is understood GetSwift entered into the voluntary trading halt after the ASX refused to publish an announcement by the company on Monday regarding its contracts with various companies due to concerns over the level of disclosure in the original statement.
GetSwift has also not told the market about the departure of its chief technology officer Keith Urquhart. He is believed to have left shortly after the company floated in December 2016.
Mr Urquhart was named as key management personell in the company's 2016 prospectus, which said: "The company is substantially dependent on the continued services of its managing director, executive chairman and chief technology officer".
On Monday, Mr MacDonald and GetSwift executive chairman Bane Hunter took to Twitter to voice their concerns about the ASX not publishing their announcement.
The ASX is understood to be concerned about the lack of detail in several of GetSwift’s announcements.
The ASX has not made any public statements on the matter.
GetSwift raised $75 million from investors in December after its share price more than doubled on the back of it announcing that it had signed a deal with Amazon, though details on that deal were also light.
GetSwift’s annual report says it signed up several clients during fiscal 2017 including Commonwealth Bank, Philip Morris International and Pizza Hut.
Mr MacDonald and Mr Hunter did not comment on Wednesday.
GetSwift did not respond to a series of detailed questions from Fairfax Media but instead issued a short statement through a spokesman.
"Due to GetSwift's continuous disclosure obligations, the company cannot comment on these matters at this time,'' the statement said.
The spokesman added the company’s statement was currently being reviewed by the ASX.
GetSwift told the market on Wednesday that it expected to resume trading on Thursday when the announcement was released.
Joel Macdonald
Bane Hunter@Bane_Hunter
