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Objective shares slide as defence fallout deepens. Thursday, September 3, 2026 - 3:57 Shares in Objective Corporation have continued their slide since the firm announced on July 1 that Defence Digital Group would not renew a support agreement running since 1999. The company has since shed about 40 per cent of its value. The Upgrade and Support Program covered Objective ECM across the Department of Defence, where the platform serves about 140,000 users. Objective describes it as the largest public sector document and records management deployment in Australia. The agreement lapsed on 1 July. Defence lost access to dedicated engineering support, software upgrades and remediation for critical and high severity security vulnerabilities. In comments to The Australian (subscription required) founder and chief executive Tony Walls called the decision "an exceptionally bold and puzzling move, particularly against the Government narrative of supporting sovereign owned, engineered and supported capability". Walls drew a parallel with other complex Defence programs. He said capabilities such as the AUKUS submarines or the F-35 rely on experienced support and maintenance teams. Those teams understand the systems deeply. "As a patriot, it remains my greatest concern and care, that the Department is exposing itself to very real and avoidable risks," he said. The cost to Walls personally has been steep. The List, published by The Australian, put his wealth at $1.12 billion in its 2026 edition. His Objective shares are down about $600 million on paper since. On those figures he is no longer a paper billionaire. Walls founded Objective in 1987 after leaving BHP, working from his parents' spare room in Port Kembla. He floated the company on the ASX in August 2000 and has never raised new equity or sold a share. Defence relationship continues The lapsed contract was with the Defence Digital Group, not with Defence as a whole. DDG has confirmed it remains committed to widescale use of Objective ECM across the department. Non-renewal does not restrict Objective's ability to sell other solutions to Defence. The company says it retains specialist knowledge of the systems and is engaged with the department across numerous relationships. Objective has also been winning elsewhere in the sector. It established a dedicated Defence and National Security team during FY2026, and reported new customer acquisitions and expansions with existing customers in that vertical. Those wins were disclosed alongside the full year result on 27 August, two months after the DDG decision became public. Objective says an established footprint and sovereign capabilities position it well where information trust is paramount. Objective Connect released digital signatures and tag-based access controls to align with export-controlled markets such as defence industry. Engineering resources previously tied to Defence-specific ECM support will be redirected into Objective Nexus. Nexus is the replacement for Objective ECM. The company says it has invested about $150 million in sovereign research and development since ECM 11 shipped in 2021. That produced three generational releases of Nexus. Defence did not take up any of those releases under the expired agreement. Objective also confirmed that neither Defence nor any third party engaged by the department has access to its source code. Business Solution

SYDNEY, May 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ - Objective Corporation (ASX: OCL) is proud to announce its role as Platinum Sponsor of the 2025 Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) Congress, taking place 28 - 30 May in Darwin.