Czech UAV manufacturer Primoco UAV receives license to sell military materiel

The company has also hired new managers and expanded its offer with target drones
  • Primoco UAV, a Radotín-based manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles, is continuing its rapid development. After being listed on the Prague Stock Exchange last year, the company’s subsidiary obtained a license to sell military materiel earlier this year.
  • Thanks to the license, Primoco will be able to fully develop sales of target drones for military training in addition to aircraft serving for inspection of pipelines and border protection.
  • The company has also reinforced its staff with new managers. In September, Lukáš Trzaskalik became the company’s vice-president of sales, bringing with him experience from Aero Vodochody. Former economic journalist Leoš Rousek is the new investor relations manager.

Prague, 16 September 2019 – Primoco UAV, a Czech manufacturer of civilian unmanned aerial vehicles, has taken important steps to improve its access to global markets.  The company, whose shares have been traded on the new START market of the Prague Stock Exchange since October of last year, has obtained from the Ministry of Industry and Trade a license to sell military materiel.

The licence, which is held by the subsidiary Primoco UAV Defence, makes it possible for Primoco UAV to develop its sales of drones as unmanned aerial targets for military training. Target drones are an affordable option for militaries to significantly improve the training of air-force pilots and ground forces.

“Our product portfolio will soon include target drones in the form of a simplified version of our One 150 aircraft. For the air force’s purposes, it isn’t necessary for the drones to be equipped with a sensitive monitoring camera. Also, we do not anticipate that training drones will have the autonomous landing functionality,” says Ladislav Semetkovský, cofounder and CEO of Primoco UAV, describing the specifications of the new product in the company’s portfolio.

Primoco UAV also anticipates completion of preparations of the offer of its drones as a service to clients in the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan this autumn. The company plans to start aerial work for customers there in 2020. The service will exclusively involve monitoring of gas and oil pipelines.

The further growth of Primoco UAV should be aided by its newly hired managers, one of whom is Lukáš Trzaskalik, who has been vice-president of sales since September. Trzaskalik previously worked for the aircraft manufacturer Aero Vodochody, where he was involved in sales of that company’s L-39NG and L-159 aircraft in Latin America and Africa. “Primoco is working hard to become a leading manufacture of civilian UAVs globally. I believe that I will be of benefit to the company in this respect,” Trzaskalik said.

Leoš Rousek, who previously served as the chief economic analyst for Hospodářské noviny, joined Primoco UAV in the position of investor relations manager. In the past, he also worked as a Central European correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and a correspondent for the Dow Jones Newswires press agency in Russia. “Primoco UAV is a company that combines the top level of Czech industry with state-of-the-art technologies. Furthermore, it operates in a unique sector and has tremendous potential to break through on the global scale. The capital raised by selling its own shares on the Prague Stock Exchange can help it in that regard,” Rousek said.

Primoco UAV will soon celebrate its first year on the stock exchange. The company made its initial public offering on 2 October 2018. “We believe the current shareholders will appreciate our work and we will be able to attract new potential buyers. We are planning to sign new contracts this year, thanks to which we should come close to CZK 1 billion in sales volume in the near future. We’re also planning to issue a report for investors, covering also our interim operating results,” added Ladislav Semetkovský, CEO of Primoco UAV.

Primoco UAV was established in 2015 by Czech entrepreneurs Ladislav Semetkovský and Gabriel Fülöpp. In the first year of its existence, the company based in Prague’s Radotín district was recognised as one of the 100 most important Czech companies. Its One 100/150 unmanned aerial vehicle has won an award for innovation and design. Primoco UAV was listed on the Prague Stock Exchange in October 2018. The subsidiary Primoco UAV Defence was established in 2019 and subsequently obtained a license to sell military materiel.

Primoco UAV’s main product is the civilian One 150 unmanned aerial vehicle, which is able to fly autonomously according to programmed flight plans. The key features of the aircraft include its size, thanks to which it has a maximum take-off weight of 150 kg with a payload of 30 kg, endurance of ten hours and a range of 1,500 km. Cruising speed is 100-180 km/h and the machine can perform fully automatic take-offs and landings. It has thus found uses particularly in the energy sector, border and coastal protection, fire monitoring and search-and-rescue operations. Primoco UAV has been operating its own aerodrome for testing its machines and pilot training in Pisek – Krašovice since spring of this year.

More information is available on the website at http://www.primoco.com.

Videos of testing and manufacturing of our aircraft are available on Primoco’s YouTube channel.

Contact for investors and the media:

Leoš Rousek, rousek@primoco.com, +420 777 662 580.

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