There’s an old saying that everyone’s a genius with the benefit of hindsight.
Looking back now it doesn’t seem that hard to understand why new Shark deterrent and detection company Shark Mitigation Systems jumped 30% above its listing price last week following on from its admission to the ASX on Thursday.
Having listed at 20c on Thursday, the company’s share price hit a high of 26% on Friday before closing at 24c, 20% above its listing price.
Volume on Friday was also good with over 1m shares or around a quarter of a million dollars worth of stock changing hands.
Over the last few years Australia has been gripped by mild hysteria surrounding the myriad of shark attack deaths around the country and Shark Mitigation Systems appear to have tapped into a vein of investor sentiment looking to cash in on that hysteria.
After raising $3.5m to list on the ASX, Shark Mitigations Systems will now set about commercializing their two unique shark deterrent and shark detection technologies known as “SAMS” and “Clever Buoy”
SAMS or “Shark Attack Mitigation Systems” is essentially a particular pattern or design applied to ocean going products such as wet suits in particular but also surfboards and other items in order to deter or confuse sharks, thereby reducing the risk of shark attacks.
Clever Buoy is a smart marine buoy that has been taught to detect the swimming patterns of sharks and is capable of sending a signal back to shore when it detects marine life of a pre-determined size swimming in a particular way.
Commenting on the company’s successful share market debut, Shark Mitigation Systems co-founder Craig Anderson said “We have had a fantastic response from the market, registering strong volumes and a rise in share price.”
“The strong support from investors will help fast-track the commercialisation of our products and exploit the many opportunities in the marine technology sector.”
“To our knowledge we are the first shark attack mitigation company to list on any public exchange globally and we are now able to take advantage of this position to create a pipeline of ethical, anti-shark solutions,” he said.
With only about 21 million shares on issue and around half held by founders and friendlies, it may only take the announcement of a distribution deal or two to get his stock heading north in a big way.
By Matt Birney
