Smartrac results on upward curve

16 August 2006

The ePassport sector was instrumental in giving a boost to the latest financial results from Smartrac, a manufacturer and supplier of RFID components and ePassport inlays.

Company revenues in first half of 2006 amounted to Euros 22.5 million, more than double compared with the same period in 2005, when revenue was Euros 8.3 million. Meanwhile, the Group’s first-half EBITDA increased to Euros 4.7 million, more than triple the figure for the same year-earlier period (Euros 1.5 million).

According to Christian Fischer, CFO of Smartrac, some of the growth could be attributed to performance in areas including mass transportation, access systems and logistics. The main contribution however came from the company’s ‘High Security’ segment (ePayment and ePassport), which increased its revenues to Euros 9.9 million, more than ten times greater than the same period last year.

With investments of Euros 4.4 million, the supplier expanded its production capacity with a new facility in Germany and an additional plant in Thailand, that should be fully operational by the end of this year.