The Nuix Ltd (ASX: NXL) share price dropped the ball in September, as shareholders wore a 6% decline. For comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) shaved off 2.6% during the month.
Looking back in time, the forensic data company made its ASX debut with an initial IPO price of $5.31. However, after missing prospectus forecasts and being hit with investigations by authorities, the company's shares have tumbled 52% to $2.52.
While September failed to disrupt the negative trend in the Nuix share price, it has started October in the green. In morning trade today, Nuix is up 2.78% to $2.59.
The month that was
Heading into September, investors were digesting the recently received full-year results for FY21. The disappointing share price performance was reflected in the company's results.
For FY21, revenue increased a marginal 0.1% to $176.1 million. Meanwhile, the bottom-line was even more painful as the $23.5 million profit in FY20 swung to a $1.64 million loss. Although, a potential silver lining in the metrics — the software-as-a-service customer base rose 58% to 112 at the end of the period.
Following on from this, the Nuix share price began to slide after the company released an update regarding the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigation. On 2 September, the company confirmed it had received notices from ASIC seeking documents relevant to the matters being investigated.
The forensic data company found itself being tossed out of the ASX 200 as the month continued. Though, a brief reprieve followed leading up to the announcement of an acquisition. On 13 September, Nuix revealed it had entered an agreement to acquire Topos Labs.
This acquisition brings natural language processing software to Nuix that better understands text and spoken words at speed and scale. Obviously, such features are important when analysing masses of data for investigative purposes.
Despite the expected benefits, the Nuix share price proceeded to slip over the second half of September.
Nuix share price snapshot
While September was not a great month for the Nuix share price, it represents only a fraction of the damage incurred in the past year. Disappointingly, the company's value has sunk 68.5% over this time, making it a significant underperformer.
The 1-year chart shows a flattening in volatility since June. In fact, it appears the share price has been range-bound between $2.20 and $2.90 for the past three months.
Nuix holds a market capitalisation of $774 million.
