ExQuintis boss hit by lawsuit

THE corporate watchdog has sued Frank Wilson, the former head of failed sandalwood grower Quintis, for allegedly misleading the market about terminated contracts with Swiss titan Nestle.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has commenced civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court against Mr Wilson for allegedly failing to discharge his duties as a director.

Quintis last year became the first high-profile victim of US short-seller Glaucus Research and slid into administration. A scathing Glaucus report cast doubt on its highly publicised customer orders, which turned out to be illusory.

ASIC has claimed Mr Wilson failed to disclose that key contracts with Nestle subsidiary Galderma were terminated early last year, with the Quintis board only becoming aware of the development in May 2017. WOMEN now occupy almost a third of board positions at Australia’s 200 biggest listed companies and, for the first time, hold 30 per cent at the top 100 companies.

But, some gender diversity targets remain out of reach after a slew of resignations slowed the representation rate of women last month.

The Australian Institute of Company Directors’ gender diversity progress report reveals there have been small gains in the push for more women on company boards.