Full year revenues up 34% at LaserCard

01 May 2009

 

Secure ID provider LaserCard is bucking the international downturn by revealing promising results for its fourth quarter and year ended 31 March, 2009.

Revenues for the fourth quarter were US$14.7 million, compared with US$10.9 million in the third quarter and US$7.3 million in the same quarter last year.

The GAAP net income for the fourth quarter was US$944,000 (or US$0.08 per diluted share), compared with a GAAP net loss of US$849,000 (or US$0.07 per diluted share) in the previous quarter, and a GAAP net loss of US$3.3 million (or US$0.27 per diluted share) in the same quarter a year ago.

The firm’s revenue from optical memory cards was up on last year at US$30.9 million, compared with US$22.1 million in 2008.

Revenue from specialty cards and printers totalled US$15.8 million in 2009 versus US$13.2 million in 2008, with the remaining revenues coming from the enabling services and other products and services in the drive systems and services segment.  The optical memory card backlog on 31 March, 2009, stood at US$21.4 million.

The company’s cash, cash equivalents, and short- and long-term investments totalled US$29.3 million on 31, March 2009, compared with US$18.5 million last year.  Debt at the end of March 2009 had grown to US$8.9 million compared with 2008’s figure of US$0.1 million.

LaserCard notched up some significant contract wins during the last financial year:

·         The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded it the contract to supply encoders and new advanced cards for the Permanent Resident (Green Card) programme;

·         It signed a card supply agreement with Gemalto for the new phase of the Saudi Arabia national ID programme;

·         It won the Italian Ministry of Justice employee ID programme;

·         It completed installation of the first end-to-end credentialing system in Costa Rica;

·         It received initial purchase orders and delivered equipment and supplies for the Angola National Citizen ID programme card issuing infrastructure.

“Fiscal 2009 was a year of improving financial results for LaserCard,” says Robert DeVincenzi, the firm’s president and chief executive officer. “Full year revenues grew 34% over the prior year, reflecting the ramp-up of several major ID card programs, the expansion of our business into Africa and the initial contribution from the new enabling services component of our ID solutions offering. We also made important innovations related to our core technology and credentialing solutions. Among other enhancements, we are now delivering a broad set of contact and contactless technologies in combination with optical memory.

“Finally, our success in tuning LaserCard’s cost model has reduced manufacturing costs and improved production efficiencies, strengthening the company’s competitiveness as we enter the 2010 financial year.”