IkeGPS sales poles apart

IkeGPS, the unprofitable laser measurement toolmaker, has confirmed weakerthan-forecast sales of its Spike product in 2018 and an increase in sales of its IKE product for measuring poles and other aerial plants.

The company sold about 2200 Spike units in the year ended March 31, below its target of 3000 units. It first flagged that sales had undershot guidance with the release of its third-quarter update in January. IKE sales amounted to 476 systems, up 2.3 times from a year earlier, the Wellington-based company said. It didn’t detail revenue or earnings for the year ended March 31.

In November, IkeGPS affirmed its target to reach breakeven on an operating cashflow basis in full-year 2018. It didn’t affirm that target yesterday. It held cash of about $2.6 million at March 31 compared with $2.7m cash at the end of March 2017. “We are in the year-end audit process and as such will detail operating cash-flow performance for 2H and Q4 when that concludes, at the same time as the audited financials are released,” chief executive Glenn Milnes told BusinessDesk.

IkeGPS shares closed up 7.78 per cent at 48.5c, after touching 50c during trading - their highest point since November 2016.