Idex, Precise and BIO-key lead strong crop of biometrics earnings reports

Idex Biometrics earned $2.1 million in the first half of 2022, a strong increase both sequentially and on a year-over-year basis, despite delays in biometric payment card projects caused by supply chain challenges. The company earned $1.3 million in the first half of 2021.

Gross margin was significantly lower, at 7 percent, reflecting a change in sales mix. Net financials amounted to a loss of $936,000 in Q2, following a net loss of $120,000 in the first quarter.

Q2 revenues were $1.1 million, an increase of 12 percent sequentially, and 59 percent from a year earlier.

Idex is in two of the seven launches of biometric payment cards to the market so far, according to the report, and is present in five of a further six that have been announced. More announcements on this front are expected soon.

“During the second quarter of 2022, Idex continued to make commercial progress with our fingerprint solution with three new commercial bank launches,” comments Idex CEO Vince Graziani. “Fintech companies and challenger banks seeking security for their clients and product differentiation have been adopters of biometric smart cards. In 2022 Rocker, Manager.one, Fidor and an issuing bank based in Turkey have launched, or will soon launch, biometric payment cards embedding Idex Biometrics sensor solutions.”

Deferred shipments caused by the lockdowns in Shanghai worth $166,000 affected Idex during the second quarter, according to the report.

CFO Jamie Simms is leaving the company as of August 15, 2022, and is being replaced by Eileen Wynne, who has been consulting with the company for over a year and a half.

Idex has also announced 8,498,200 incentive subscription rights granted to new and returning employees and contractors. The exercise price for the subscription rights is NOK 1.18 (US$0.12) per share.

The day after the interim report was published, Idex announced the receipt of the largest order in company history, for biometric fingerprint sensors.

A customer described as a large global company based in the U.S. plans to use Idex’ technology for user authentication.

Shipments to fill the order are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of this year.

Precise revenue up

Precise Biometrics reports net second quarter sales of SEK 24.6 million ($2.41 million) and first half revenues of SEK 52.9 million ($5.18 million), both up significantly from 2021, flipping its EBITDA into positive range.

The company’s EBITDA was SEK 0.9 million ($88,000) and SEK 5 million ($490,000) for 1H 2022, compared to negative SEK 0.8 million ($78,000) for both the first half and second quarter of last year. Total earnings for the first half improved to a loss of SEK 5.5 million ($540,000), compared to a loss of SEK 8.1 million ($790,000) a year ago.

“During my initial period as CEO of Precise, I can confirm that we are standing strong in a turbulent environment,” comments Patrick Höijer, who took the role on June 1. “Both our Digital Identity and Algo business segments report a strong Q2 and are growing compared with the same period last year. SaaS revenues increased in Digital Identity, while revenues in Algo grew compared with the same period last year, despite a global decline in demand for mobile phones.”

Fellow biometrics provider Egis took a large minority position in Precise following the close of the company’s fiscal first half.

ARR in focus

Revenues for BIO-key jumped by 96 percent to $1.9 million in Q2, with over half of the gain coming from software license fees.

CEO Michael DePasquale says higher ARR from software licenses are “a core focus” for BIO-key, and reiterated prior guidance of revenues doubling from 2021 to between $10 million and $13 million for full-year 2022.

ForgeRock’s total revenues increased by 8 percent, y-o-y, on higher recurring revenues.

SaaS revenues were also up at Intellicheck, by 21 percent, though total revenue declined by 16 percent y-o-y to just over $4 million for the second quarter. Net loss for the three months was slightly higher than a year earlier.

Biometrics providers announcing results in line with expectations also included authID.ai, with total first-half revenue of $0.2 million, and a net loss widening to $11.5 million.

Vsblty, meanwhile, has filed a preliminary short form base shelf prospectus with securities regulators in four Canadian provinces to allow offerings worth up to $50 million Canadian (US$ million) over the next 25 months. The filing follows a major increase in earnings in 2021.

Article Topics

authID  |  BIO-key  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  financial results  |  ForgeRock  |  identity verification  |  Idex Biometrics  |  Intellicheck  |  Precise Biometrics  |  stocks  |  VSBLTY