Tech: Homestay wins commercial deal with aged-care provider, shares up 50pc

Tech minnow Homestay Care (ASX:HSC) has inked a deal to upgrade the tech systems at nine residential aged care facilities owned by Aged Care & Housing Group in South Australia.

Homestay’s core tech platform provides monitoring systems and data analysis that helps the elderly live independently in their own homes for longer.

Under the terms of this deal, the company will deploy its Essence Smart Care Call Platform which utilises Internet of Things (IoT) technology to foster improved two-way communication between patients and nurses.

Homestay said that each of the nine projects will be executed under a separate purchase order.

The first order for $500,000 has been received to fit out a 137-patient facility in the suburb of Glenelg.

“Delivery of the first site and delivery of the multi-site platform are underway with ‘go live’ for first residents to commence using technology scheduled for this quarter,” Homestay said.

The company expects to complete its rollout across the ACHG group by December this year.

The company said it plans to derive recurring revenue from ongoing licensing and support services, which will be deployed “as relevant”.

As per the commercial terms of the agreement, ACHG will pay the ongoing licensing and services fees on an ongoing basis, “for the serviceable life of the product whilst in use”.

The contract may be terminated earlier “if the solution is no longer required or fit for purpose, or for breach by either party”.

Upon news of the deal, shares in HSC rose to 0.6 cents — good enough for a morning gain of 50 per cent.

The company also released a cleansing prospectus, announcing the issuance of new shares and options that were required to remove trading restrictions under ASX rules.

Despite this morning’s gain, shares in HSC struggled for traction in 2019, having fallen from a 12-month high of three cents last February.

In other ASX tech news this morning:

IT equipment company Beam Communications (ASX:BCC) is officially in the market with its flagship ZOLEO product — a satellite messaging product that provides users with communication capability in low-coverage areas. ZOLEO also includes safety features such as weather forecasts and worldwide SOS alerts.

ZOLEO has launched in the US, Australian and New Zealand, and around 20 regional retailers from the latter two markets have registered interest in stocking the product, Beam said. Shares in BCC rose five per cent to 32 cents in morning trade.

Shares in data analytics company 9Spokes (ASX:9SP) rose by more than 10 per cent, after the company announced it had received the final implementation fee from its contract with Bank of America, initially announced last August.

And motion-detection company Dorsavi (ASX:DVL) also had some deal news, after announcing it has signed an additional contract with Heathrow Airport for the use of its ViSafe monitoring system. Shares in DVL rose eight per cent in morning trade to 2.7 cents.