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Codan Limited
Codan makes rugged communications gear, metal detectors, and tracking devices for soldiers, miners, hospitals, and hobbyists.
Codan is an Australian company that builds gear for people who work in places where ordinary equipment breaks. Its radios and communications systems are sold to armies, police forces, aid groups, and mining companies that need to talk to each other in remote or dangerous places. It also sells metal detectors — the kind treasure hunters wave over beaches and the kind mining companies use to find gold in the ground — plus tracking and monitoring systems that keep tabs on vehicles and equipment.
The business splits into a few pieces. Communications makes up the biggest chunk, selling high-frequency radios and systems that work where phone networks don't exist. Metal detection is the other big earner, sold under the Minelab brand, which is the name hobbyists and gold prospectors around the world know best. A smaller unit handles tracking and other electronics, such as the systems used to monitor hospital beds and keep equipment secure in healthcare settings. So who actually pays? Governments and defense forces buy the radios. Mining companies and individual prospectors buy the detectors. Hospitals and large facilities buy the tracking gear. The common thread is that these customers will pay a premium for equipment that works reliably when it matters — a soldier in the field or a prospector in the outback can't afford a radio or detector that quits.
Codan has been around since the 1950s and listed on the ASX decades ago, but the modern story is one of steady, profitable niches rather than flashy growth. The Minelab metal detection business, in particular, has been a quiet cash machine, and the company has used its profits to pay dividends and make acquisitions to widen its product range. Its main vulnerability is that it depends on government defense budgets and on gold prices, since high gold prices make hobbyists more eager to buy detectors. That makes it a solid but cyclical business — strong when defense spending and gold are both healthy, and more exposed when either falters.
Saved answer · last researched 12 Nov 2026