Shares in London Stock Exchange-listed artificial intelligence (AI) company Windward Ltd (AIM:WNWD). rose 17% on Thursday morning after it posted a trading update informing the market of a slew of new contracts.
The company, which designs AI solutions for the maritime industry, said in a statement today that it is now trading “comfortably” in line with market expectations.
Windward said it had secured a number of contract wins and renewals in the second half of the year, a time when a high level of U.S. government contracting activity takes place due to budget cycles.
The company said it had won two additional U.S. government customers and had not experienced any customer “churn”, a term for customer turnover.
Its global government segment “performed strongly”, winning four new contracts, it said.
Windward also secured the renewal of a contract with the Nigerian government, it confirmed, which adds US$1 million of annual contract value each year over three years.
Its commercial sector customer base meanwhile continues to grow, it said in the statement.
Ami Daniel, co-founder and chief executive officer of Windward, said: “The need for greater visibility across all facets of the maritime industry is driving adoption of our maritime AI platform, both in the public and commercial markets.
“Having built a robust, global SaaS business, an international sales team and a growing, blue chip customer base, we are confident in maintaining momentum into Q4, trading comfortably in line with FY23 market expectations."
Windward sells predictive AI-powered solutions to banks, commodity traders, insurers, energy and shipping companies to provide an overview of the maritime ecosystem and how it affects other sectors.
Its shares rose to a peak of 74p per share on Thursday morning, after closing at 63p yesterday, before settling slightly lower later in the morning.