The market capitalisation of audiovisual technology company Audinate (ASX: AD8) was lifted by around $266 million today after the founder-led group announced record sales of US$30.4 million ($46.6 million) for the December half and an even greater lift in profit.
Audinate is the company behind Dante, a leading audiovisual ethernet media networking solution including both hardware and software. Its technology is licensed to 50 manufacturers worldwide and has more than 66 products either available or ready to launch such as cameras, encoders and decoders.
The majority of revenue came from chips, cards and modules (CCM), up 45.6 per cent to US$22.7 million ($34.8 million), while software revenue rose 56.2 per cent to US$7.3 million ($11.2 million).
But with a high gross margin percentage of 71.8 per cent, earnings more than doubled with EBITDA up 137 per cent to $10.1 million, while net profit after tax (NPAT) swung from a $400,000 loss in the prior corresponding period to a positive $4.7 million result.
"We are pleased that Audinate continues to create new revenue, EBITDA and operating cash flow milestones," says co-founder and CEO Aidan Williams.
"The operating leverage inherent in the business model is again evident in another positive set of financial results."
Williams co-founded Audinate with chief operating officer David Myers in 2006 as a spin-off from research he led at the National Information and Communication Technology Australia (NICTA), where he had brought a team of engineers across from a shuttered Motorola Research Labs project in 2003.
It was at NICTA that Williams started refining what would later become Dante, solving challenges of delivering tightly-synchronised audio with ultra low network latency, taking a novel approach to simplifying network set-up and creating an intuitive user interface.
The company is now worth approximately $1.58 billion and partners with 50 original equipment manufacturers (OEM) worldwide - a number that is up from 30 a year prior. The growth of OEMs licensing Dante video offerings has helped Audinate achieve its objective of more than 30,000 video units in field or shipped six months earlier than planned.
At the end of FY23, Audinate launched Dante Connect, which delivers in-sync audio directly from Dante networks to cloud services for seamless online production anywhere, reducing the need for mobile studios and trucks full of broadcast equipment. Since then, the group has licensed several global tier-one media and consumer product customers and completed nine proofs of concept.
In today's announcement the company reiterated that it continues to explore several merger and acquisition opportunities, buoyed by a stronger balance sheet following its capital raise in late 2023. Audinate raised $70 million, comprising $50 million from a placement with institutional and new investors, followed by a $20 million share purchase plan (SPP).
The SPP took place at $13 per share and was completed in October, but AD8 shares have strengthened since then to reach $16.03 by the close of trading on Friday, and then surging 20 per cent to reach $19.24 in early trading today.
At the time of publication, AD8 shares are up 19.4 per cent today at $19.14.
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