Precise Biometrics Announces Year-End Results, Weighs in on Mobile Fingerprint Market

Precise Biometrics has announced its Q4 and year-end results for 2016, painting a picture of a company charging through a challenging market.

For the quarter, Precise Biometrics saw consolidated net sales of SEK 25.7 million and an after-tax profit of SEK 2.7 million. For the full year, consolidated net sales reached SEK 97.2 million – an increase of 72.6 percent against 2015 – and after-tax profit reached SEK 31.2 million.

Commenting on the company’s performance, CEO Håkan Persson said 2016 was “the company’s best year so far” and stressed the extensive reach of Precise Biometrics’ algorithm software in the mobile market, asserting, “The majority of all major manufacturers are now using our fingerprint software.” But Persson also noted the “competitive situation in the market” and its impact on partners’ revenues, asserting that “[r]evenues from our biggest customer, Fingerprint Cards (FPC), continue to fall quarter on quarter in the mobile device segment and is expected to cease completely during the second half of the year.” Persson added that projects with other customers are expected to compensate for the negative effect these losses will have on Precise Biometrics.

Persson also highlighted the company’s acquisition of NexID, a “strategically important” move that could help Precise Biometrics’ leverage growing demand from the mobile payments market; and he said the company expects to bring software incorporating NexID liveness detection technology to market in the third quarter of this year.

Though sales of the Precise Biometrics’  Tactivo readers were lower than expected, and the company anticipates a dip in revenues during the first half of 2017 due to the situation with FPC, Persson concluded on a note of optimism, saying the company expects end of year revenues in line with those of 2016, and “high growth” beyond 2017.

(Originally posted on FindBiometrics)