Delta Drone has released its results for the 12 months ended 31 December 2021 (FY21).
Commenting on the Company’s progress over FY21, Delta Drone International CEO Christopher Clark said: “The past year Delta Drone International created a lot of positive momentum as the Company successfully executed its growth strategy. At the beginning of 2021, two international business were merged to form Delta Drone International, and with the majority acquisition of Arvista in Australia, we have formalised the foundations of our future market focus.”
“Overall revenue grew significantly, up 64% to $5.5million for the year. Delta Drone International consolidated itself as a leading drones-as-a-service provider and was recognised as a top four global drone services provider in the Drone Industry Insights (Droneii) Top Drone Service Providers for 2021 Report.”
“Our already extensive range of services was bolstered by the latest capability in light detection and ranging [LiDAR], security monitoring and advanced Beyond Visual Line-of-Site (BVLOS) operations, allowing us to meet the increasingly specialist needs of our customers.” Clark said.
“Delta Drone International now provides services in 9 countries, as enterprise customers have a universal need for the types of services that we expertly provide. Our market expansion continued with the creation of new headquarters in Australia servicing the mining, agricultural and infrastructure sectors following the acquisition of Arvista, while new contracts and market entries occurred in Namibia, Zambia and Niger.” Clark said.
“While we expanded our market penetration, we also deepened our relationships with key customers, adding another 12 major contracts with multinational enterprise companies. Many of these were either contract extensions due to the excellent relationships we have with our customers, or expansions of remit due to our expertise in the field and ability to show value to clients.” Clark said.
FINANCIAL OVERVIEW
FY21 revenue was up 64% to $5.5 million (FY20: $3.4 million), including drone safety sales.
An operating loss of $3.6 million was incurred in FY21. Of this operating loss, $1.9m related to the divested Parazero business, with a continuing operations operating loss of $1.7m.
At 31 December 2021, Delta Drone had $954k cash at bank, providing sufficient flexibility for the Company to continue executing its current growth strategy.
After year-end, the Company sold its drone safety business, Parazero, for $6 million in cash to a consortium of investors led by NASDAQ-listed Medigus Ltd and facilitated by Israeli venture capital firm L.I.A Pure Capital Ltd.
COMMERCIAL UPDATE
Delta Drone International expanded its range of contract. Key contracts in FY21 included:
- Providing global media company Thomson Reuters in South Africa with assistance with Remote Operator Certificate (ROC) certification and providing pilot training to capture news and events by drones in real time
- GoviEx Uranium extended its relationship with DLT via virtual 3D model baseline surveying in Niger to create a shareable view of mining site to share with stakeholders who can’t attend the site due to travel restrictions
- Northern Star, the global scale Australian gold producer, commenced aerial survey using several LIDAR capabilities in its West Australian operations at Kalgoorlie, Yandal and Pogo through DLT’s Australian operation, Arvista
- Multinational OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and industrial equipment world-leader Doosan Mobility Innovation signed an integration deal with DLT Safety business, Parazero, where its patented SafeAir parachute technology will be incorporated into Doosan’s award-winning DS30 endurance drones
- Global mining and metals company South32 Coal Holdings (Pty) Ltd (now Seriti Power) extended its DLT contract in South Africa for five more years allowing DLT to provide its drones-as-a-service capabilities across mine surveying and real-time data collection services
- Perenti subsidiary, AMS African Mining Services extended its contract for stockpile volume measurement where DLT deployed its mining specific drone fleet weekly to accurately track on-site stock volumes so AMS could better optimise their supply chain.
- Global accounting firm BDO recommissioned DLT to provide its tailored drone solution to provide large-scale livestock audits for client verification reporting.
- Interwaste commissioned DLT to provide advanced thermal imaging data to assist the organisation create more detailed air quality reports to monitor the environmental conditions of waste and landfill sites.
- Rustenberg Platinum Mines Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anglo American Platinum Limited, the world’s largest producer of platinum, signed DLT to provide survey mapping, blast monitoring and inspection services in South Africa.
- Pioneer Seed RSA, a subsidiary of major producer of agriculture seeds, Corteva Agriscience RSA, contracted DLT specialist agriculture drone pilots to deploy state-of-the-art agriculture-specific drones to capture a range of vital data including plant analytics to ensure maximum yield for crops such as maize, soybeans and sunflowers.
- Multinational agricultural services company Syngenta expanded its DLT remit into Zambia and used its advanced data capabilities to virtually deliver crop visualisation and analysis in real time while also allowing remote data capture and sharing of Syngenta’s field trials in the region.
- Inspections at concentrated solar power (CSP) facilities were added to the Company’s capabilities through surveys for a customer in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province. The survey holds great significance in the industry as historically, this type of survey has been extremely challenging to conduct due to the reflective nature of the plant’s mirrors preventing the capture of images required. A 100% tailored solution created internally that included a rewriting of the AI detection algorithm resulted in the successful monitoring for broken mirrors and defective heat elements as well as providing the client an analysis on future performance optimisation.
OPERATIONAL UPDATE
Delta Drone International expanded operations into Australia, Namibia, Zambia and Niger bringing the number of markets in which it now provides its range of drones-as-a-service capability to nine jurisdictions.
Australia
DLT acquired 60% of the shares in Perth-based provider of aerial and terrestrial surveying services, Arvista Pty Ltd. A key milestone in DLT’s growth strategy in Australia, it immediately provided DLT with a blue-chip Australian client base and access to a team of highly skilled professionals with the expertise to expand their skillset beyond surveying to include the full range of drone-as-a-service operations that Delta Drone International provides.
Namibia
DLT’s training subsidiary Drone Safety & Legal (Pty) Ltd), expanded its accredited training operations into Namibia to deliver advanced drone operations training for enterprise companies. The courses provide enterprise drone operators with an intermediate understanding of aerial data capture, to gain deeper insights into the magnitude of ways advanced drone use and its associated services can add value to their operations.
Zambia
DLT expanded its operations into Zambia after being appointed by multinational agriculture services company, Syngenta. DLT used its advanced data capabilities to virtually visualize and analyse crops, while also allowing remote data capture and sharing of Syngenta’s field trials in the region – an essential part of the company’s research and development process.
Niger
DLT entered Niger with uranium explorer and developer, GoviEx Uranium Inc, to perform its new virtual 3D model baseline survey mentioned earlier.
Appointment of Chief Financial Officer
On 2 December 2021 Paul Williamson joined Delta Drone International as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), replacing Mr Moshe Hukaylo. Paul is an astute finance professional with 29 years’ accounting experience as a qualified Chartered Accountant and Company Secretary and previously worked for big four professional services firm, KPMG, and surveying and spatial data management services provider, Land Surveys Group.
POSITIVE OUTLOOK
“In 2022 we will utilise our strengthened balance sheet to further scale our services and look for other attractive growth opportunities. Commercial applications for drone services are steadily rising and will probably overtake government and defence in terms of market share in the next few years. Delta Drone International is therefore focused on growing revenue with a significant investment in sales and marketing to harness the reputation of its technology and operations leadership as it executes its growth strategy and consolidates its drones-as-as- service business model. Additionally, the Company is working to further reduce overhead costs while enhancing operational efficiencies following its successful integration and increasing cross selling between its business units.” Mr Clark said.
