Companies are valued based on future output at least as much as what they produce in the here and now. For few is this as true as it is for KuangChi Science (motto: “Future is Now”) which commands a near-$2bn market capitalisation. Last year, the company made earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of just $14m. Where the science ends and fiction begins is not clear; a lot is priced into KuangChi’s shares.

Established in 2010, the developer of aerospace hardware was reversed into a Hong Kong-listed shell company, a paper producer in June 2014. The shares rose stratospherically, jumping almost 20-fold during the following three months. Since then, they have drifted down, losing three-fifths from the peak. At 136 times ebitda, the shares are still not cheap.

To be fair, most of its businesses are still very new; few if any analysts have estimates. KuangChi’s main revenue source is the Cloud, which sold its first unit in 2015. Designed to fly on a blimp at 5km above sea level, Cloud provides services including internet coverage and surveillance, as well as disaster monitoring. It has an Australia-listed subsidiary Martin Aircraft, which makes jetpacks, the first due out this year. KuangChi also owns a stake in Canada-based Solar Ship, which operates cargo drops in remote places.