Corporate: Droneshield shares fly higher on a record quarter

DroneShield (ASX:DRO) shares climbed as much as 12 per cent higher this morning after the company reported it made about $1.1m from selling drones.

This is the third quarter in a row that DroneShield has increased its sales revenue. With government grants its quarterly cash inflows came to $2.1m.

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While the company did lose $166,321 this quarter, this was a substantial improvement on previous quarters and DroneShield still has $1.6m cash in the bank.

DroneShield also announced its UK office was paying dividends. Over 50 per cent of its cash receipts came from Europe, diversifying its revenue base which was previously Middle East concentrated.

The company also outlined its extensive sales pipeline, which included a Middle Eastern Ministry of Defence user. It declared several deals to be “in advanced stages”.

Furthermore, it has nearly completed a deal with a “major European integrator” to sell its products and expects to announce finalisation shortly.

“Over the course of the past three years, DroneShield has been instrumental in creating an industry where there was none before,” chairman Peter James said.

“DroneShield is now leading the industry it has co-created and we are working on further entrenching our competitive advantages.”

In other ASX corporate news today…

Apiam Animal Health (ASX:AHX) reported a gross quarterly profit of $14.4m and estimates its underlying annual earnings will be $10m. This is a slight decrease from previous quarters which the company acknowledged and blamed on poor weather conditions. It also announced its facility with NAB had increased by $14m to $39m.

Keytone Dairy (ASX:KTD) had a strong start to the (New Zealand) financial year. Sales revenue was a record $1.5m – up 129 per cent compared with the preceding quarter. The company also updated its shareholders on the acquisition of beverage company Omniblend. While it is yet to be approved by shareholders, Keytone said the products would hit market shelves from September and would also be in Endota spas.

Environmental Clean Technologies (ASX:ECT) has resumed trading after a four-month suspension. The company announced it completed the acquisition of CDP Group’s waste-to-energy technology and provided an update on its projects. However, the stock fell by more than 50 per cent at market open as shareholders took the chance to get out — albeit too late to claim a tax loss for this year.

In substantial holder movements, Regal Funds Management increased its stake in optometry stock Visioneering Technologies (ASX:VTI) from 9.24 per cent to 15.47 per cent. After several months of retreat, the stock has gained 50 per cent in recent days and Regal bought another $1.9m. LHC Capital did likewise with semiconductor stock Pivotal Systems (ASX:PVS), taking its stake from 12.9 per cent to 14.7 per cent.