Aware, Inc. declares special cash dividend

Aware Inc., a leading supplier of biometrics software and DSL service assurance products, announced a special cash dividend of US$1.80 per share, or approximately US$40 million in total.

The Board of Directors has determined the company’s current cash balances exceed capital requirements, and have thus decided to return cash to shareholders. This cash dividend will be paid on December 17, 2012 to shareholders of record as of December 3, 2012.

The tax treatment of the special cash dividend will depend on the amount of the company’s current and accumulated earnings and profits as of the end of the year. Based on year-to-date earnings through September 30, 2012, the company believes that this US$1.80 special cash dividend and a US$1.15 dividend paid earlier in the year will be treated as qualified dividends for income tax purposes.

Aware Inc., founded in 1986, provides biometrics and imaging software to capture and verify fingerprint, facial and iris images for identification purposes.

As reported previously in BiometricUpdate.com, Aware Inc., published third quarter results last month, showing a net income for the third quarter of US$10.3 million. These results compared to a net income of US$1.3 million for the same period a year ago. Net income in the third quarter of 2012 included a net gain of US$15.2 million from the sale of patent assets.

Additionally, in September, a BiomertricUpdate.com Research Note identified Aware Inc., as a “speculative buy,” and as a target for acquisition since there are so few pure play biometric firms openly traded on public equity markets in the U.S.

Article Topics

Aware Inc.  |  biometric software  |  Board of Directors  |  dividend  |  facial  |  fingerprint  |  identification  |  imaging  |  iris  |  special dividend  |  verification