The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) sues Nuix alleging ‘deceptive conduct. ASIC has begun proceedings in the federal court against Nuix. It is a software company that provides software licenses to its customers.
Meanwhile, regulators have put forward claims against the Nuix board as well. The allegations are against Bleich and Directors Rodney Vawdrey, Susan Thomas, Daniel Phillips and Sir Iain Lobba.
Nuix denies claims by ASIC
The software company Nuix released a statement denying the allegations. And also said that it will not provide any commentary on the case. Nuix said it ‘’ intends to defend the proceedings.’’ Also said that they had fully cooperated with ASIC throughout the investigation.
On Wednesday, ASIC filed a case (pdf) in the Federal Court against Nuix submitting documents. Nuix board has been accused of taking actions that ‘’ affected market integrity and confidence in the market more broadly’’.
Misleading or deceptive statements when reaffirming its prospectus financial year 2021 forecasts
ASIC claims the company ‘’made misleading or deceptive statements when reaffirming its prospectus financial year 2021 forecasts for statutory revenue and for annualised contract value (ACV) in announcements to the ASX’’ in the month of February and March 2021.
It is claimed that Nuix was aware of the ACV for the financial year 2021 ‘’likely to be materially below forecast’’. However, mislead and gave rise to the need for corrective disclosure through announcements.’’
Additionally, Joseph Longo, ASIC chair said Nuix was a ‘’ newly list technology company with a complex business model. This meant investors relied heavily on the company making accurate and timely disclosures regarding its earnings.”
Longo said in a statement, “Nuix’s ACV result at the end of the first half showed that, far from growing rapidly at 18.5 percent as the company had forecast for the full year, Nuix’s underlying business as measured by ACV had essentially shrunk by almost 4 percent over the first half,”
“It took the company over a month, until February 26 2021, to disclose this material information to the market. Nuix had an obligation to promptly disclose this information.”
