Fingerprint Cards’ leadership may consider some dramatic options concerning the company’s future, with the company’s board of directors announcing plans to conduct “a review of strategic alternatives” for the company.
In a statement, the plans were sketched out by board chairman Johan Carlström, who led FPC as its CEO from 2009 to 2015. Noting that Fingerprints has made progress in the areas of mobile biometrics, payments, and access control, Carlström explained that the company’s board is looking at opportunities to accelerate growth and “maximize the future potential” of the biometrics specialist.
“We are reviewing different alternatives, which could range from acquisitions, to spin-offs, sales and new listings,” he said. “There has been considerable interest for Fingerprints from a number of different players, which has triggered the review process.”
The plan appears to signal Carlström’s return to highly active management of the company after an earlier period of absence, with Carlström having departed a position as Business Developer in the autumn of 2016, and returned to the company as Board Chairman amid a larger executive shake-up in early 2018.
The company’s CEO, meanwhile – Christian Fredrikson – recently called the beginning of “the next phase in Fingerprints’ development” in announcing plans for new global offices in Europe, China, and Singapore. Fredrikson explained that the new offices would help to bring FPC closer to its customer, suppliers, partners, and local talent.
That bullish stance was undercut somewhat last month by the news that a COVID-19 outbreak had led to the shutdown of an important supply chain partner based in Vietnam, which prompted FPC to issue a notice that its revenues for the second quarter would be lower than the company had previously projected.
In its latest statement, FPC took care to note that there is currently no certainty that its board’s strategic review will lead to a material change for the company. In any case, the company indicated that it has engaged the services of financial advisers from Jefferies International Limited and Carnegie Investment Bank, as well as a legal adviser in Hannes Snellman.
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(Originally posted on FindBiometrics)
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