The DroneShield Ltd (ASX: DRO) share price is taking off today after the company shared the news it has received a $2.3 million payment. The payment was the remaining balance on an order from the Middle Eastern Ministry of Defence.
Today, the DroneShield share price reached an intraday high of 19.5 cents, up 14.7%. It has since retreated to 18 cents at the time of writing, which is still 5.88% higher than yesterday's closing price.
Let's take a closer look at the company's news.
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$2.3 million payment
In 2018, DroneShield announced it had received an order from the Middle Eastern Ministry of Defence for 70 DroneGun tactical jammer products.
At the time, the company stated the total cost of the order was $3.2 million. Shipping of the order was completed in March 2020.
DroneShield expects the Middle Eastern Ministry of Defence to be a repeat customer, with the next order anticipated to be worth between $60 million and $70 million.
In 2018, DroneShield stated the order from the ministry was the largest known order of tactical drone mitigation equipment ever made. It was also DroneShield's first multimillion-dollar order.
Today's news boosting the DroneShield share price follows a busy few weeks for the company. It has recently won multiple contracts globally, including a $1.1 million repeat order contract with a Five Eyes agency, an initial order from a high profile US law enforcement agency, and multiple DroneSentry-XTM orders.
Management commentary
DroneShield CEO Oleg Vornik commented on the final payment for the order, saying:
In addition to the material value of this cash receipt, it demonstrates several critical points. Firstly, it shows that DroneShield is able to successfully navigate doing business in one of the most challenging yet most lucrative regions globally for Western companies, in terms of successful management of stakeholders and achieving outcomes.
Secondly, this is the completion of a repeat purchase by this end user, with the next contract expected to be a much larger amount…
Thirdly, this underscores the global leadership positioning of DroneShield products, and our best-in-breed performance, as confirmed by this customer who faces daily UAS threats on their home soil, like no other customer globally.
DroneShield share price snapshot
The DroneShield share price has been having a productive year on the ASX, with today's news just the latest boost.
Currently, it is up 5.88% year to date, but an impressive 63.6% over the last 12 months.
DroneShield has a market capitalisation of around $66 million, with approximately 389 million shares outstanding.
