Momentum for biometric phones, PCs, payments lifts Fingerprint Cards despite COVID disruption

Despite a significant production disruption, Fingerprint Cards’ biometrics sales have increased on a constant currency basis by 18.3 percent during the past quarter, the company said in its latest quarterly report.

Second quarter 2021 revenues for FPCs biometric products were SEK 290.2 million (approximately US$33.5 million), and gross margin improved from 21.5 percent in the same period during 2020 to 27.7 percent. EBITDA reached SEK 9.4 million ($1.1 million), compared to SEK 6.7 million ($0.8 million) a year ago. FPC’s operating result was a loss of SEK 24 million ($2.8 million), compared to a loss of SEK 16.7 million ($1.9 million) in Q2 2020.

Revenues from January to June of 2021 were SEK644.9 million ($74.4 million), well up from SEK 592.3 million ($68.3 million) in the same period last year, with similar improvements across gross margin, EBITDA, operating result and cash flow from operations.

The company believes that disruption from a COVID-related shutdown at a Fingerprint Cards’ supplier in Vietnam is now largely behind it.

“We are seeing a positive trend in the underlying market for our products. External industry analysts expect the global smartphone market to expand by 6-9 percent during 2021, while the proportion of mobiles with fingerprint sensors continues to grow,” comments Fingerprint Cards President and CEO Christian Fredrikson. “Capacitive fingerprint sensors, for which Fingerprints is the world leader, remain by far the most common biometric modality in smartphones. Our strong position is based on renowned high product quality, security and biometric performance. We are continuously advancing the development of our product portfolio, and the most recent generation’s thin side-mounted sensors from Fingerprints have established a new highest standard in the market.”

FPC just announced a volume follow-on order for its sensor module for biometric payment cards.

The company’s board is also currently reviewing its options to maximize shareholder return.

Article Topics

biometric cards  |  biometrics  |  financial results  |  Fingerprint Cards  |  fingerprint sensors  |  pc  |  smartphones  |  stocks