An Australian company that makes cheap drones for armies to destroy during training has soared after making its stock exchange debut.
Boresight shares were changing hands at 36c on Wednesday afternoon, up 80 per cent from the 20c offer price in its $8 million initial public offering, giving the company a market value of $75 million.
“I wouldn’t say we’re surprised at the result,” Boresight managing director and chief executive Justin Olde told AAP.
“There was a lot of interest in the lead-up to the bell-ringing, so you’re always cautiously optimistic.
“The fact that things did well, it’s great, we’re thrilled to bits with it.
“We’re in a great position in a very fast, expanding and growing market, and that’s reflected in what’s happened to the share price.”
Canberra-based Boresight has sold more than 6,000 disposable drones to defence contractors and 15 militaries across 12 countries since 2020.
They’re used as realistic aerial threats in counter-drone training and live-fire evaluation.
Boresight says its proprietary control system supports safe, repeatable training for soldiers around the world facing the new age of drone warfare.
The funds raised in the initial public offering will be used to expand Boresight’s footprint in other markets, particularly in the US and Europe.
“We’re going to increase our engineering capacity to turn out new products and to get products to market,” Mr Olde said.
“Priority one will be Australianising, or at least Westernising, a lot of our supply chain to give ourselves supply chain security, and also give us a better margin,” he said.
“So rather than paying somebody else to do something for a profit, we do it ourselves.”
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