Apologies if this has been posted before, but courtesy from the Australian 26/11/13 an article on Fiats interest on the technology. I don,t know if this has been affecting the SP. viz..
DataDot Technology (DDT) 2.2c: The last time we looked at this anti-theft/anti-counterfeiting outfit was in mid-2006, when John Howard still ruled the land and GFC stood for Geelong Football Club. At the time, DataDot shares were trading at 36c, before a boardroom coup took its toll.
DataDot's story -- using invisible spray-on coding to leave a forensic footprint on an item -- remains mainly the same. So with techie speccies being given the benefit of the doubt, is it worth a whirl? Under chairman and former investment banker Bruce Rathie, there's been a focus on reducing cash burn and an extension product, DataTrace, which impregnates liquids and fabrics with a code.
DataDot's 2012-13 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $366,000 compared with the previous $1.2 million loss, on similar revenue of $1.2m. Not many investors have Italy to thank for anything, but in this case a big order from Fiat helped the turnaround.
Rathie says DataTrace has huge potential in verifying spare parts. "Fifty per cent of parts in any market are either counterfeit or grey imports," he says. For the carmakers, it's not just a case of lost revenue but also avoiding liability arising from, say, a bogus non-inflating air bag.
There's also the wine industry, with the coding already applied to 10 million bottles produced by a state-owned Chinese manufacturer. "Incredibly, the Chinese are now knocking off their own products," Rathie says.
In April, press reports alleged DataDot and its then joint venture with CSIRO supplied drug giant Novartis with a cheap Chinese substitute tracer product. Rathie describes the claims as "totally
ill-founded" and says two independent tests back this up. Despite the nascent turnaround, DataDot's recent $3m private placement and share placement resulted in a $421,000 shortfall which, it's hoped, will find a home courtesy of Wilson HTM.
With DataDot's sins of the past forgiven but not forgotten, we ascribe a spec buy.
DDT Price at posting:
3.3¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
