Fingerprint Cards AB

Interim report January-September 2017

Press release
October 26, 2017

Fingerprint Cards AB: Interim report January-September 2017

 

Leading position in a challenging smartphone market and positive trend for smart cards

• Challenging smartphone market and weakened gross margin, but sequential volume growth
• Positive cash flow, decreased inventory and strong cash position

Positive trend for smart cards

Increased investment in strategic R&D projects

 Third quarter 2017

• Revenues amounted to SEK 841.4 M (1,862.3), down 55 percent compared with the third quarter of 2016
• The gross margin was 33 percent (49)
• Operating profit amounted to SEK 52.4 M (764.5) and the operating margin was 6 percent (41)
• Earnings per share before dilution totaled SEK 0.16 (1.89)
• Cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK 174.7 M (134.5)

January-September 2017

• Revenues totaled SEK 2,350.7 M (5,019.6), down 53 percent compared with the year-earlier period
• The gross margin was 37 percent (49)
• Operating profit amounted to SEK 195.2 M (2,058.2) and the operating margin declined to 8 percent (41)
• Earnings per share before dilution totaled SEK 0.44 (5.04)
• Cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK 378.6 M (944.3)

CEO's comments

Leading position in a challenging smartphone market and positive trend for smart cards

As previously announced, earnings for the third quarter were impacted negatively by the cautious market situation and noticeable price pressure. Yet on a positive note, we continued to reduce our own inventories and maintained a strong cash flow. We are operating in a mature mass market where we will remain a leader in terms of volumes and we are implementing a number of initiatives to enable us to restore our growth and improve our profitability. Firstly, we are pursuing a combination of technology and product development in order to cut production costs and develop new, innovative products. Secondly, we are focusing on business development in order to increase the number of application areas for our technology and broaden our customer base. Finally, we will focus on increasing efficiency and lowering costs throughout the supply chain. We are also aiming to implement a number of efficiency measures in order to reduce our costs.