Precise Biometrics‘ revenue guidance for the year has dipped from the black to the red. 
The company has revised its projections and now expects an operating loss instead of a profit due to “the strong competitive situation”, according to a statement from the biometric algorithm software specialist.
Precise Biometrics’ previous prediction anticipated revenues of about SEK 83 million; now, the company has brought the range down to somewhere between SEK 60 and 70 million. The revised projection is based on preliminary royalty reports, which indicate that Precise Biometrics’ customers in the capacitive sensor market “have won fewer projects and been assigned lower volumes than projected.”
In its announcement, the company did not elaborate on the underlying market factors in play. But it’s worth noting that in March of this year, Fingerprint Cards – Precise Biometrics’ biggest hardware partner in the mobile sector – rescinded its own revenue guidance for the year, citing market challenges including weakened demand from OEM customers and an inventory glut.
And, of course, in September, Apple’s announcement that its iPhone X would replace its pioneering Touch ID fingerprint sensor system with a new 3D facial recognition system shook up the mobile biometrics industry, with Fingerprint Cards subsequently reporting a decline in interest from its OEM customers as they wait to see how consumers respond to the shift. The trend is borne out in FPC’s newly released corporate update.
For its part, Precise Biometrics says “[i]nformation related to the third quarter of 2017 will be presented” in its interim report to be published November 14th, hinting that a more detailed analysis of the market situation will be offered at that time.
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