Adelaide aerial mapping company Aerometrex has enjoyed a strong Australian Securities Exchange debut, almost doubling its share value on the first day of trading, reports The Lead.
Aerometrex was expected to have a market capitalisation of approximately AUD$95 million when it listed on the Australian Securities Exchange on Tuesday, December 10. But demand for its 25 million IPO shares valued at $1.00 each led to the initial offer closing many times oversubscribed.
On its opening day of trade on the ASX the shares hit $2.07 – more than double the IPO price – before closing at $1.835 to push the company’s value above $150 million. At the time of writing (11.30am Tuesday, 17/12/19) the share price stood at $1.860.
Ahead of the listing, Aerometrex managing director Mark Deuter said the explosive market interest stemmed from the company’s track-record.
“The very high pre-listing market interest in our IPO reflects a strong reputation, focused research and development and a proven record of building revenue, net profit, market share, customer base and operating footprint,” he said.
“Aerometrex has always been at the forefront of spatial technological advances, and we have sought to take this competitive advantage to new markets outside of Australia, particularly for our 3D product that we believe is the next generation in mapping’s evolution.”
Aerometrex is a 30-year-old company based in Adelaide, South Australia, which has achieved annual revenue growth from $9.7 million to $16.1 million over the past two years with strong industry and government support for its aerial photography, photogrammetry, LiDAR, as well as high resolution, high-accuracy 3D modelling.
It creates 3D models of major Australian cities and sells them to city councils, state governments, planners, architects, marketing companies and developers.
It also offers MetroMap, an online aerial imagery subscription service with highly accurate geospatial data viewed through a web browser interface.
The company has executed international projects in the United States, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.
“The United States and Europe offer strong opportunity for our 3D modelling service and we plan to establish a permanent United States presence,” Mr Deuter said . “The heart of our business is geospatial technology and this underpins many of our key institutions such as security of land tenure, local government asset and disaster management or provides the information needed to plan and cost major engineering and infrastructure products.”
The $25 million IPO proceeds will be used to grow the business, specifically the subscription service, which has emerged as a core focus of the business’s revenue stream.
Aerometrex plans to also increase its LiDAR services as governments, industry and community sectors increasingly recognise its application across environmental and man-made industries.
