Mining technology provider Imdex Limited's (ASX: IMD) share price gained an impressive 19.8% in July. That far outpaced the 0.9% gain from the All Ordinaries (INDEXASX: XAO).
After more than four years of strong performance, Imdex's share price got hammered during COVID-19 panic selling in February and March. After hitting a record high share price of $1.71 on 26 February, Imdex's share price cratered 53% by March 25.
From there, the company's share price ran higher — with plenty of ups and downs along the way — to gain 66% by 31 July.
Year to date, the mining tech's share price is down 6.8%. At the current price of $1.37 per share, Imdex has a market cap of $531 million.
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What does Imdex Limited do?
Imdex develops cloud-connected devices and drilling optimisation products to improve the process of identifying and extracting mineral resources for mining companies across the world. Its technologies include drilling fluid products, data solutions and geo-analytics services to improve exploration results by helping companies obtain accurate subsurface data and receive critical information in real-time.
Imdex operates in the Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas.
Why did Imdex's share price leap 20% in July?
There was no single cause to drive Imdex's share price up 20% in July.
The Imdex share price likely benefitted from the rapid resurgence of most of the mining companies it supplies following the shock downturn in February and March.
On 7 July, Imdex also released a promising announcement to the ASX, stating it had acquired AusSpec International Limited for $8.5 million. $3 million of that was in cash with the remaining $5.5 million in Imdex shares. AusSpec is a leading provider of spectral mineralogy through its Artificial Intelligence (AI) Spectral InfraRed Interpretation System. Imdex reported its acquisition was immediately cashflow positive and would provide a recurring revenue stream.
On 20 July, Imdex also reported that, "interest in its cloud-connected technologies has spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, the positive effect of which will flow through for the next 10 years".
Chief Executive, Paul House, noted that the impacts of the coronavirus on the way people in the mining industry were working had moved up the adoption of some of Imdex's products and services by as much as 12 months.
