Frontier Energy: ASX must force company to come clean on Mark McGowan’s job as chair

It’s time for the ASX to step in and sort out the farce at Frontier Energy. Shareholders in the green power hopeful were told on August 19 that Mark McGowan would take the reins as chair in early September. But 102 days later, there’s no sign the former premier’s latest coronation is happening. Investors have instead been treated to a share price rollercoaster ride, reaching as high as 50¢ and barrelling down to less than 13¢ on Friday. Frontier also scooped up about $16 million from punters near the top of the journey through a beautifully timed capital raising. The crack squad from the ASX compliance team needs to parachute in and start firing questions. As a start — is McGowan going to be chair or not? It was an announcement on September 4 that rang alarm bells, with the fine print showing he was still “expected to be appointed on or around September 2, 2024”. I’m not Harrison Ford but it doesn’t take Indiana Jones to immediately see that artefact was anachronistic. Yet the small cap’s crew at 140 St Georges Terrace have been pushing the Frontiers of corporate governance ever since by refusing to admit there’s something amiss. They’ve stuck to the line that Mr McGowan is the proposed chairman and a start date is yet to be confirmed. Except one statement on August 28 — a presentation which specifically labelled Mr McGowan as the chairman. Twice. Millions of shares have changed hands in the past few months with this cloud hanging over the stock, so it’s crucial to find out when Frontier’s leaders clued in that Mr McGowan would not step in on the proposed date. ASX operatives need to figure out how widespread the damage has been. There’s an argument that Frontier left leeway when the appointment was first revealed in late August, through use of slightly ambiguous wording: “effective as of 2 September 2024 or such other date as agreed”. That allows some room to manoeuvre, but at the moment Frontier’s crew are trying to push a container ship up the Canning River. Frontier is somewhere up the creek and their engine appears to be fresh out of solar power. Adding to the pressure, the business lost a key debt deal when the energy market operator knocked the Waroona solar project back for a crucial revenue stream in October. At least one big investor has already lost faith. Companies linked to wealthy businessman Quentin Flannery dumped 25 million shares in October. The ASX must put its foot down.