DroneShield [ASX:DRO] rose on Thursday after receiving a ‘record $2 million European order‘ just days after its half-yearly accounts sent shares sharply lower.
The drone AI stock rose as much as 9% in the late Thursday trade, but is still down 15% in the past week after the release of its half-year accounts.
1H22 revenue fell 45% to $3.7 million, with losses widening to $4.9 million.
DroneShield, like many other tech stocks, has struggled to withstand the wider industry sell-offs.
DRO shares are down more than 40% from their 52-week high:
www.tradingview.com
DroneShield’s ‘record’ European order
On Thursday, DroneShield announced a $2 million order from a European client — this is the largest contract for DRO’s European market to date.
The order concerns several of DroneShield’s DroneSentry fixed site detect-and-defeat systems.
DroneShield said the DroneSentry systems include Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) subscriptions to DRO’s AI software engines.
A ‘substantial majority’ of the $2 million order is due in the current quarter. The balance will be paid on system installation ‘prior to the end of calendar 2022.’
CEO of DroneShield, Oleg Vornik, commented:
‘This order continues our progression from developing the tech, to smaller sales, to repeat smaller size, to presently realizing larger contracts. There is a substantial near-term sales pipeline in place, and we are pleased to start converting it into contracts.
‘This contract reinforces our position that to be a global leader in the rapidly growing counterdrone sector, a full suite of products is critical, including handheld, vehicle and fixed site offering, as we are seeing sales with separate customer sets for each of those complementary products.’
The European order marks a shift in strategy for DroneShield.
In its latest half-yearly, the AI drone stock said its SaaS business ‘is expected to account for the majority of the Group’s earnings.’
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Regards,
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For Money Morning