Australian regulator investigating DroneShield's  disclosures, share trading (updated)

DroneShield

12/05/2026 03:15

Adds details, share moves from paragraph 2 onwards

May 12 (Reuters) - Australia’s counter‑drone technology firm DroneShield DRO.AX said on Tuesday that it had received a notice from the country's corporate regulator requiring assistance in an investigation into company disclosures and trading in its shares in November.

Shares of the firm were last trading down 14.7% at A$3.01, their lowest level since February 25.

The investigation relates to announcements and information provided by DroneShield to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASIC) between November 1 and November 20, 2025, as well as trading in DroneShield’s shares between November 6 and November 12, the company said in its statement.

In November, top executives, including the then CEO Oleg Vornik and the then Chairman Peter James, sold their shares for an aggregate of A$70 million ($50.58 million) over six days, triggering a multi-week sell-off worsened by the sudden exit of its U.S. CEO and an order disclosure error.

Both Vornik and James later put down their papers in April.

DroneShield said it would cooperate fully with the investigation, adding that it was not clear what action, if any, may result from ASIC's probe.

($1 = 1.3839 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Rajasik  Mukherjee; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

((Rajasik.Mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com))