Annual Report for the Year Ended 31 December 2016
Sydney, Feb 27, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - DroneShield Ltd (
ASX:DRO) (DRSHF:OTCMKTS) is pleased to provide the Company's Annual Report for the year ended 31 December, 2016.
Chairman's Review
The 2016 financial year was an exciting year for DroneShield Limited ("DroneShield" or "the Company"), with a number of key milestone achievements. The value created for the shareholders of the Company has been underscored by the substantial appreciation in the Company's share price since its listing on the Australian Securities Exchange ("ASX") on 22 June 2016 and set a solid foundation for the Company's development in 2017.
The Company's initial public offering ("IPO") on the ASX on 22 June 2016 was oversubscribed by a range of retail and institutional investors, raising $7,000,000 (the maximum level of subscriptions targeted by the Company in the IPO).
Following the IPO, the Company delivered on the market's expectations, as reflected in the fact that, through to the date of this report, the Company has generated a return of approximately 150%1 in the 8 months following the IPO, placing it amongst top market performers over the period since the listing.
As foreshadowed in its IPO prospectus, following the listing, DroneShield made several key hires in Business Development and Product Development, and continued to actively pursue product development, sales and partnerships.
Following several months of business development work, late 2016 saw the Company announce its detection product sales to the office of Prime Minister of Turkey and a sale to a national security agency of a country in Asia.
Recognising the benefits of being a one-stop drone security solution for a range of government and civil infrastructure users, in late November 2016, DroneShield launched DroneGun, a tactical drone jammer, which added an effective drone countermeasure to DroneShield's existing suite of drone detection products. This new product positioned DroneShield as the only company in the world offering both drone detection and handheld rifle-style tactical drone countermeasures.
While the Company's detection product had already placed DroneShield at the forefront of the industry, the launch of DroneGun catapulted the Company to the forefront of potential users' decision-making. The first sale of DroneGun was made within days of its launch. The Company was covered in hundreds of press articles and received a very large number of queries about its products following the launch of DroneGun.
The Company's high profile recent engagements include deployment by the Swiss police at the Annual World Economic Forum Meeting in Davos in January 2017, deployment by the Defence Ministry of a Middle Eastern country closely aligned with the Western governments, and continued deployment by the Boston Police Department for the third consecutive year at the Boston Marathon in April 2017.
DroneShield's developments come against the continuous backdrop of terrorist organisations stepping up their deployment of consumer and commercial drones, creating an urgent need for drone security products. The military market is expected to be an important market segment going forward, and the Company's strength in this market is underscored by the fact that the Company is drawing on the assistance of its high profile Board and Advisory Board members, with substantial experience and relationships in the military sector, particularly in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.
The Company is actively continuing its product development. DroneShield's product development activities respond to the extensive interaction that the Company has with potential customers (and especially government customers). The ability of the Company's Board and Advisory Board members to judge the direction of the market based on their experience and relationships enables the Company to continue its product development to meet the anticipated demand. The recent commencement of the development of DroneSentry, an anti-drone swarming product, illustrates how the Company responds to the demands of the market and its potential customers.
The Company's in-house and distributor salesforce is in advanced discussions with a number of potential customers (including high profile potential users with substantial unit requirements) globally in relation to both its detection and countermeasure products, leveraging off its channel partner presence in over 35 countries. While the upcoming demonstrations at a U.S. military training facility (secured through the Company's partnership with a U.S. government agency) and to high profile customers elsewhere, are only a small part of the Company's co-ordinated sales efforts, they illustrate the calibre and scale of DroneShield's potential customers.
To view the full report, please visit:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/7QYIVVSA
About DroneShield Ltd
DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO) (OTCMKTS:DRSHF) is an Australian publicly listed company with its head office in Sydney and teams in the US and UK. We specialise in RF sensing, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Sensor Fusion, Electronic Warfare, Rapid Prototyping and MIL-SPEC manufacturing.
Our capabilities are used to protect Military, Government, Law Enforcement, Critical Infrastructure, Commercial and VIPs throughout the world.
Through our team of primarily Australian based engineers - we offer customers bespoke solutions and off-the-shelf products designed to suit a variety of terrestrial, maritime or airborne platforms.
DroneShield is proudly exporting Australian capability to customers throughout the world and supporting Australia's defence, national security and other organisations protect people, critical infrastructure and vital assets.
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