Fingerprint Cards (FPC) Year-end report 2014
FPC increases sales and is well equipped for anticipated market growth in 2015 and ahead.
CEO's comments
"I am pleased to state that in the fourth quarter, FPC achieved its highest quarterly sales to date of SEK 105 M, representing year-on-year growth of 208%. Sales in the quarter were in the lower range of the communicated forecast interval, mainly due to that a number of market launches in the quarter were postponed to the first half of 2015. Overall, this meant that sales for 2014 totaled SEK 234 M, an increase of 145% compared with full year 2013. With sequentially rising quarterly sales in 2014, FPC has established itself as a leading supplier of touch fingerprint sensors and an integral part of the smartphone market, the world's largest market in terms of volume and value. The market we helped to create is materializing in earnest now. We are well equipped to capitalize on this growth now that our customers are establishing the technology that we were first to provide as a standard for high-tier smartphones and tablets.
Our credibility in the market has improved by the reception of Huawei Ascend Mate7, a phone that defines a completely new level of user experience for secure authentication and secure payment services. I cannot think of a better way to create a permanent impression in the market, and we are particularly happy that our technology has contributed to a major commercial success for our customer.
In our endeavor to provide the market with leading fingerprint technology, we launched two new touch fingerprint sensors during the quarter, FPC1025 and FPC1155, which are now being mass produced, as well as FPC1140 and FPC1145, which were launched in early 2015. Without a doubt, we have a highly competitive product portfolio and the successes of our touch fingerprint sensors are also resulting in a shift in the product mix to now almost exclusively consist of touch fingerprint sensors.
One of our biggest challenges in recent years has been predicting how rapidly the market will adopt the technology we offer. We believe that the greatest part of this challenge is now behind us. When we now discuss the introduction of our technology with all leading OEMs, the question is not if they are going to introduce this technology but rather how the fingerprint sensor will be integrated into their products, and the services that are to be provided with the sensor.
In addition to patent applications to protect our touch fingerprint sensor technology filed by FPC, we have further strengthened our patent portfolio with the acquisition we announced in the past quarter. Our patent portfolio provides very strong protection for our technology and our successful sales to new customers show that our customers have arrived at the same conclusion.
In December, we announced a strategic partnership with Atmel, a world leader in touchscreen controllers. FPC and Atmel will offer secure high performance, biometric touch fingerprint sensor solutions and touchscreens to our respective customers. This represents a pre-certified solution for our customers and more proof that the leading players in the industry are turning firstly to FPC to provide the market's leading offering.
Correspondingly, we recently announced a strategic partnership with O-Film, our newest partner for the development of fingerprint sensor modules. O-Film occupies a strong position in its domestic market in China, which is also our largest and most important market and accounts for the largest growth in both smartphones in general and in the introduction of our technology specifically.
Although the smartphone market is the market on which we currently place the greatest emphasis, it does not mean that we have abandoned other possibilities. One example of this is our collaboration with Zwipe, which attracted major interest in the past quarter. Particular interest was shown in the cooperation that Zwipe announced with MasterCard, with which our technology is planned to be introduced commercially during the latter part of 2015.
We are confidently looking forward to 2015, the year when our technology is expected to become a standard offering in leading smartphones and tablets."
Key figures | Oct-Dec 2014 | Oct-Dec 2013 | Jan-Dec 2014 | Jan-Dec 2013 | |||
Net sales, SEK M | 105.0 | 34.1 | 233.6 | 95.4 | |||
Adjusted gross profit, SEK M* | 46.4 | 19.2 | 106.7 | 53.9 | |||
Gross profit, SEK M | 33.7 | 14.9 | 71.6 | 39.1 | |||
Adjusted gross margin, % * | 44 | 56 | 46 | 56 | |||
Gross margin, % | 32 | 44 | 31 | 41 | |||
Operating loss, SEK M | -29.9 | -15.1 | -144.4 | -34.0 | |||
EBITDA, SEK M | -16.4 | -11.3 | -83.6 | -21.4 | |||
EBITDA, % | -16 | -12 | -36 | -22 | |||
Loss after financial items, SEK M | -29.2 | -14.8 | -143.6 | -32.9 | |||
Earnings per share, SEK | -0.50 | -0.27 | -2.47 | -0.60 | |||
* See page 17 for explanation | |||||||
Dec 31, 2014 | Dec 31, 2013 | ||||||
Cash and cash equivalents, SEK M | 101.9 | 211.7 | |||||
Order backlog, SEK M | 71 | 23 |
Future prospects
Considering the strong interest from the market in integrating touch fingerprint sensors and the company's strong product portfolio, it is estimated that sales for 2015 will rise sharply compared with 2014. Sales in the first quarter of 2015 are expected to be in line with the corresponding figures for the fourth quarter of 2014. The company's assessment that sales for 2015 will exceed SEK 1 billion remains.
For further information, please contact: Jörgen Lantto, Acting CEO of Fingerprint Cards AB (publ), +46 31-60 78 20, investrel@fingerprints.com Website: www.fingerprints.com/corporate/ |
Fingerprint Cards AB (publ), Corp. Reg. No. 556154-2381, discloses this information pursuant to the Swedish Securities Market Act (2007:528) and the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act (1991:980). This information was issued for publication on February 26, 2015 at 8:00 a.m.
Key information
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