Skip to main content
subscribers only

Business owner Alexander Fernandes knows a thing or two about growing companies. The Vancouver serial entrepreneur has done it four times, most recently as CEO of Avigilon Corp., which makes high-definition surveillance systems.Rafal Gerszak

In a country so dominated by resources, Avigilon Corp. stands out as an undeniable winner. And it's a tech stock.

Over the twelve months since going public, the Vancouver-based company's shares have soared nearly 130 per cent. Better yet, almost all of those gains were realized in the past six months.

Never heard of Avigilon? Here's the story. The company was founded in 2004 by Alex Fernandes, who has a background in medical and industrial imaging. Putting that knowledge to use, he developed extremely high quality cameras that can be used for video surveillance.

Video surveillance is sexy? Apparently so. As we noted when the company went public , the vast majority of surveillance cameras sold to places like banks and airports are analog VGA, and that just doesn't cut it for security any more. There's also another hook. To make sure these high-resolution images can be transmitted, Mr. Fernandes developed special streaming technology to handle the large image sizes.

For the first six months of trading, Avigilon's shares didn't really do much. In fact, they slumped a bit. But in early May the shares started to take off, right around the release of the first-quarter earnings, which came in more than five times higher than the same period in 2011. However, investors were still a bit skeptical. The first-quarter profit was still under $1-million.

The explosive growth has since continued, and that's got people really excited.. Avigilon just reported its third-quarter earnings, and its profit for the first nine months of the year is over $4-million, an 87 per cent increase over the same time frame last year. Revenues year-to-date are now $68-million, nearly two-thirds higher than 2011.

The funny thing is, Avigilon is making most of its money outside of Canada. About half of its $25-million in revenues last quarter came from the U.S., and a fifth came from emerging markets and Africa.

As always, there's reason to be cautious about a meteoric rise. Accounts are starting to hear more about the name, and with a growth story like this one, there will always be people who pile in simply because others are.

But no matter what happens in the next few quarters, Avigilon is surely a bright spot for Canada.

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe