Next books first fingerprint biometrics sales in Pakistan amid Asia expansion

Pakistan is the next stop in Next Biometrics’ expansion tour through Asian countries. The company has received its first order in Pakistan after integrating its Oyster III fingerprint scanner with NADRA’s national ID system.

Deliveries of Next’s biometric fingerprint readers to customer Digital Data Systems (DDS) are expected to begin in the third quarter of this year. The scanners will be used by NADRA, as well as other government and telecom clients of DDS, according to the company announcement.

“Our Oyster III is designed for secure Windows logon, single sign on (SSO) and enterprise applications. Building on our unique technology, it has already proven its outstanding performance in some of the most demanding biometric markets,” says Digvijay Singh Kanwar, SVP and head of sales for IUEA (India, U.S., EU and Africa) at Next. “In line with our strategy, we continue to expand and grow geographically with our product portfolio.”

Next’s first delivery of biometric sensors to Bangladesh was confirmed in June, with Commlink Infotech placing an order for NOK 3 million ($290,000) in FAP20 thermal fingerprint sensors to integrate into scanners with liveness detection for the banking industry. The product is expected to launch in Q3.

The contract with Commlink extends over five years, with a total value of NOK 95 million (approximately US$9.1 million). Singh Kanwar reiterates that Commlink is one of the Bangladesh market’s largest players.

Next has made steady progress in Asia over the last couple of years, with an order of FAP20 biometric sensors delivered to a customer based in Singapore in Q1, following deals to supply its sensors to customers in India and China.

Revenue gains raise possibility of profitability in 2H

Next reports revenues in the second quarter of fiscal 2024 of NOK 18.3 million ($1.7 million), up roughly 150 percent from the same quarter a year ago. Gross margin also spiked to 57 percent, the best in the company’s history and a dramatic improvement from 17 percent in Q2 2023.

Adjusted EBITDA loss during the quarter was NOK 6.7 million ($640,000), compared to NOK 13.1 million ($1.25 million) a year earlier.

The company expects strong revenue growth and is targeting profitability in the second half of 2024.

The earnings report also notes that Next plans to launch the first engineering samples of a new FAP30 biometric sensor, based on the company’s active thermal technology like its FAP20 product, in Q4.

Article Topics

biometric sensors  |  biometrics  |  fingerprint readers  |  NADRA  |  Next Biometrics  |  Pakistan  |  stocks