FPC publishes interim report, CEO calls Q1 ‘stronger than expected’

Fingerprint Cards has issued an interim report for the first quarter of 2014 and according to the company’s CEO, the quarter was stronger than expected and interest from major smartphone manufacturers has been significant.

“The success of Fingerprint Cards (FPC) is continuing and, in terms of sales, we can state that the first quarter of 2014 was our strongest ever first quarter, with sales of SEK 18 M,” Johan Carlström, President and CEO of FPC said. “Both the rapidly growing market of smartphones and the traditional banking sector contributed to this relative sales success. The development of our next generation of touch sensors, where the FPC1020 is the first product, is progressing according to plan, and we have now entered an intensive period together with our customers.”

“The opportunities that will be created with fingerprint sensor technology, primarily within smartphones, are by no means limited to the exclusive upper segments,” Carlström said. “FPC believes that the market is rapidly approaching segmentation, whereby touch sensors will be the dominant type of sensor in the more expensive premium and high-end segments, while Swipe sensors will comprise a large volume product in the less expensive market segments. As the undisputed, independent market leader in touch sensors, combined with our long tradition of delivering swipe sensors, I am delighted that our customers have shown an interest in both of these types of implementation of fingerprint technology.”

Fingerprint Cards says its growth is currently mainly in Sweden and during the second quarter of 2014 the company plans to “significantly expand” its sales and customer support organization, primarily in Asia.

Net sales for the company totalled SEK 18.4, compared to SEK 9.1 in Q1 2013.

As for the future, and the rest of 2014, FPC says it stands by its previous assessment that sales in 2014 will exceed SEK 500M and that the EBITDA margin will end up at +20% for the full-year. Sales are expected to sharply increase throughout the year, and the majority of income is expected during the second half of 2014, particularly in the fourth quarter. FPC says this is because volume deliveries of its touch sensor FPC 1020 are scheduled to begin at the end of the second quarter.

Fingerprint Cards has also just launched the successor to its touch fingerprint sensor line, the FPC 1021, which it says is 30% smaller, and is its smallest sensor to date.   

Article Topics

financial results  |  fingerprint  |  Fingerprint Cards  |  smartphone