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Aerial mapping group Nearmap (ASX: NEA) completed a "milestone" year with record portfolio growth as the company prepares to dive into artificial intelligence.
Group annualised contract value grew by a record $24 million to $90.2 million, with contracts in North America contributing more than one third of the total portfolio.
Revenue was up 45 per cent to $77.6 million, but the company still recorded a loss of $14.9 million during FY19.
Nearmap sells subscriptions for its high-resolution aerial imagery to a diverse range of clients that range from construction companies and engineers who view the potential sites to government departments, insurance companies who want to view the properties they're covering, solar companies who need to inspect roofs and access and other commercial operations.
The company updates an image library which involves specialised camera-mounted planes that make regular flights, allowing customers to view a site without physically visiting it.
Nearmap CEO Dr Rob Newman says the financial year has positioned the company perfectly for its next foray into AI.
"FY19 has been a milestone year for Nearmap, with record portfolio growth as we delivered a step change in our product offering with Nearmap 3D and our beta release of Artificial Intelligence content," says Newman.
"These investments place Nearmap in an excellent position to deliver another year of strong growth in FY20, as we consolidate our market leadership in Australia and execute on the growing momentum in North America."
"We have built highly accurate machine learning models and deployed them at scale. This turns our millions of aerial images, captured multiple times a year, into valuable datasets. These datasets can be used to more accurately and efficiently measure change and quantify attributes, such as solar panels, pools, roofs or construction sites."
Dr Newman says going into FY20 Nearmap remains poised to take advantage of its 2019 growth and deliver on its future priorities.
"Nearmap 3D and the beta release of our Artificial Intelligence content represents an exciting time in the evolution of our Company and in FY20 we will increase investment into our people and technology to deliver even better content to our customers," says Newman.
"With our unique technology and business model which no other aerial imagery company has been able to replicate at scale, Nearmap continues to focus on the global opportunity to become the world's leading provider of subscription-based location intelligence."
Shares in Nearmap are down 14.01 per cent to $2.69 per share at 11.46am AEST.
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