Fingerprint Cards transitions and Supercom on a streak in biometrics providers’ year-ends

Year-end financial results for biometrics providers Fingerprint Cards and Supercom show a stark contrast in momentum, while BIO-key’s delayed results filing has led to a warning letter. Assa Abloy’s first quarter of 2024

Ahead of its next quarterly report, Next Biometrics has announced it is switching auditors, from long-time auditor PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to RSM Norge, following a tender process held by its audit committee.

BIO-key warned by Nasdaq for late financial reporting

BIO-key has received a letter from the Nasdaq warning of its non-compliance with the exchange financial reporting rules.

An annual report on Form 10-K was not filed for the identity-bound biometrics provider’s 2023 fiscal year, which ended December 31, on time. BIO-key filed a Notification of Late Filing on April 2, saying that meeting its Form10-K disclosures in timely fashion is not possible without unreasonable effort and expense.

The company has 60 days to submit a plan to the Nasdaq, which would grant an additional 180 days, or until October 14, 2024, to regain compliance if accepted.

Fingerprint Cards posts 2023 loss amid transition

Fingerprint Cards revenues declined again in the 2023 fiscal year, to 705.4 million Swedish kroner (approximately US$64.8 million), from SEK 861.8 million in fiscal 2022. President and CEO Adam Philpott attributes the decrease mainly to softness in the Asian mobile phone market.

The company posted a total loss of SEK 339.8 million ($31.2 million), or SEK 0.74 ($0.07) per share for the year.

The plan to put Fingerprint Cards in the black includes recent cost-cutting measures and a shift towards platforms for biometric access control (particularly for logical access), payments, and PCs, a relative strong point last year.

3 years of revenue growth in a row for Supercom

Supercom revenues increased by 51 percent for full-year 2023, reaching $26.6 million. Net loss was $4 million, compared to $7.5 million a year earlier.

The company won contracts for re-entry services (as in parole), alcohol and domestic violence monitoring, and national ID card and passport issuance security during the year from U.S. federal and state agencies, in Canada and several European countries. Europe was a major growth market, as was SuperCom’s IoT segment.

President and CEO Ordan Trabelsi says the results surpassed expectations and represent record growth and profitability.

Assa Abloy revenue up, net down

Swedish access control giant and HID Global parent Assa Abloy revenues increased by 9 percent, to SEK 35.2 billion ($3.2 billion) in Q1 2024. Net income was down 6 percent to SEK 3.5 billion ($320 million), or SEK 3.12 ($0.29) per share.

President and CEO Nico Delvaux says the company sees demand accelerating for electromechanical products with advanced authentication capabilities, like the biometric speed gates it partnered with HID on.

Assa Abloy also acquired three companies in the first quarter with combined annual sales of SEK 2 billion.

Article Topics

Assa Abloy  |  BIO-key  |  biometrics  |  financial results  |  Fingerprint Cards  |  Next Biometrics  |  stocks  |  SuperCom