A small Loveland video surveillance company went public Friday, selling $7.2 million of stock, and its shares soared 28 percent Monday to $7.34 a share.
Not bad for a company with one primary customer.
A4S Security Inc., which makes mobile digital video surveillance equipment for public transit providers and law enforcement, started in 1999 with a U.S. Air Force contract, according to regulatory filings.
It has developed a product called ShiftWatch but has only one major customer so far: the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority. Regulatory filings indicate the Loveland police department has used its product and that the company is in discussions with officials from more than 50 metro transit authorities.
A4S Security, which moved its corporate headquarters to Loveland from Montana last December, does have a high-growth market niche going for it.
Driven by security concerns in the post-9/11 world and advancements in technology, the digital video recorder market is forecast to grow by more than 20 percent annually through 2010, according to the research firm Frost & Sullivan.
The U.S. accounts for about 25 percent of the digital video surveillance market, with retail, law enforcement and the federal government among the largest markets.
A4S Security officials didn't immediately respond for comment Monday about the company's public stock offering, which netted the company $6.5 million in proceeds.
Before the stock offering, the company's auditor had issued an opinion questioning A4S Security's ability to continue as a going concern because of a deficit that had accumulated to $4 million as of last Dec. 31.
A4S Security lost an additional $554,456 in its first quarter on revenues of just $73,735.
The company's chief executive, Tom Marinelli, spent 29 years at DaimlerChrysler AG, including as president of Chrysler Europe, and the board of directors includes a former Colorado lieutenant governor, Gail Schoettler. Large stockholders include the Peierls Foundation and Cambridge Holdings.
