RNS pt34 Dec 2018 07:35
Water Intelligence International ("WII"), the principal driver of our multinational municipal business, has also shown strong growth and provided leadership for a supplementary business line for ALD. WII, launched in fall 2016, is a corporate-run operation and has facilities in the UK and Sydney. Together both operations achieved $2.16 million in sales, a 45% growth from Q3 2017 (Q3 2017: $1.49 million). Our UK operation showed an 18% growth to $1.23 million (Q3 2017: $1.05 million); our Sydney operation doubled in size to $0.93 million in sales. (Q3 2017: $0.47 million). Importantly, each of these operations turned a profit resulting in $0.05 million in profits at the end of Q3 after approximately $0.1 million in start-up losses at the end of Q3 2017.
(ii) Corporate Development. We continue to execute our plan of selective franchise reacquisitions. Our strategy has been to use the reacquisitions to set up corporate operations that can not only add critical mass of revenue and earnings to Water Intelligence but also most importantly help link and grow franchise operations through regional touchpoints. In our Interim Update, we reported 1H reacquisitions in South Florida; Louisville, Kentucky; and Bakersfield, California. These three reacquisitions have strengthened franchisee execution in the Southeast, Midwest and Southwest of the United States. Effective October 1st, we reacquired a significant operation with approximately $1 million in 2017 sales in Portland, Oregon. With that addition, we now have a corporate presence in the Northwest of the United States. We expect the Portland operation to provide a corporate anchor during 2019 for Northwest franchises and the introduction of WII's municipal business, an opportunity that already has a strong base in the Northwest.
Technology Dimension of Corporate Development. As we communicated during our March capital raise, we planned to use some of the proceeds to strengthen the value propositions of both US and UK businesses. First, we announced at the beginning of 2018 a partnership with Tagasauris and Flo Technologies to leverage the national sales footprint of ALD. We have worked with Tagasauris, a video technology company, to invest in developing a leading edge video player that would enable Water Intelligence both to market its services through direct streaming on YouTube but also to sell home services products, such as Flo (water monitoring) from such videos - a 21st century version of the Home Shopping Network. We are pleased to report that we have made great progress and demonstrated the video player at November's American Leak Detection Annual Convention discussed below. Second, as announced during 1H, we acquired certain intangible assets from Reece Group in the UK, to create a proprietary device to analyse blockages in sewer lines. Such a product would give Water Intelligence a competitive advantage in bidding for municipal work. We are pleased to report progress in the product develop
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