Sewer smell eradicator Calix spiked 36 per cent in its ASX debut today.

Calix (ASX:CXL) rang the bell on Friday morning after raising $8 million in an initial public offering over the past month.

The stock promptly jumped from its 53c issue price as high as 72c within its first hour on the bourse – a gain of 36 per cent. It closed the week at 63c with $1.6 million worth changing hands.

Calix has patented a process called “Calix Flash Calcination” which produces a porous product that can be used in waste water management and aquaculture projects.

The company’s chief executive, Phil Hodgson, explains the process like this:

“Any feedstock material — and we use a mineral — has trapped gas inside that mineral. 

“With our technology, we grind the feedstock down to a fine powder, almost the consistency of flour. It flows down a heated reactor tube, which is heated up to nearly 1000 degrees centigrade.

It then leaves a highly porous structure, like a mineral honeycomb.”

>> Here’s a list of upcoming ASX floats

This mineral honeycomb is the basis of Calix’s water treatment applications, which include managing wastewater and its bad smells across Sydney’s sewer networks.

Calix is also working on commercialising its aquaculture business across South East Asia and wants to take its water treatment tech to the US and Europe.


Calix was founded in 2005 and has been toying with the idea of an ASX listing for a while. Last year Mr Hodsgon told Fairfax the business was gearing up for a float of $15 to $20 million.

The $8 million raise seems conservative by comparison, but Mr Hodgson told Stockhead it was better to do a smaller pre-IPO raise of $2 million and then “come to market with a focused set of initiatives”.

Once on the local bourse, the company will focus on growing its waste water management, aquaculture and agriculture projects.

The technology has a number of applications and each takes a slightly different business model, including direct sales contracts and sales through partners.

Mr Hodgson said he was aware “the prospectus was probably quite a complex document”, but says the many sales streams are based off the one core technology.

Alex Waislitz’s Thorney Investment Group came onto the register in the pre-IPO raise, while the IPO itself included institutional investors W. H. Soul Pattinson, Acorn Capital and Perennial Asset Management.

Calix made $3.2 million in core revenue in FY17, with operating expenses totalling $8.4 million.

“In the end, we know that top-line revenue growth and gross margin growth are the key drivers over the next few years,” Mr Hodgson told Stockhead. 

He would not be drawn on when the bottom line would turn from loss to profit, but said “if you look at the last three financial years — our intention is to continue to grow the business, both domestically and offshore”.