Ann: Application for preliminary discovery against Spookfish, page-59

THE AUSTRALIAN
FEBRUARY 10, 2015 12:00AM

Spookfish (SFI) 6.5c

THE fledgling aerial mapper has won endorsement from industry doyen Stuart Nixon, founder of runaway incumbent NearMap.

Given other former NearMap execs are behind Spookfish, there is no love lost between NearMap (NEA, 60c) and the challenger. In fact, NearMap suspects Spookfish may have ripped off its technology and has launched discovery proceedings in the NSW courts.

Nixon emerged as a top 20 shareholder by participating in Spookfish’s $5m raising along with Amcom chair Tony Grist, NBN Co co-director Simon Hackett and Navitas founder Rod Jones.

The smart money looks even smarter after Spookfish relisted at almost double the 3.5c issue price, via the shell of Whitestar Resources. Spookfish’s IP enables high-quality pics to be taken at a higher altitude, which means images can be updated more quickly.

Meanwhile, Bell Potter forecasts that NearMap next Wednesday will post a $2.1m interim net profit, up 174 per cent, on revenue of $12m. We maintain a long-term buy on NearMap, which looks expensive in the short term but is expanding into the capacious US market.

We’ll avoid the “pre-revenue” Spookfish pending the outcome of the patent skirmish, which could be either a typical tech legal try-on or something more sinister.

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