Record sales for Axalto, but ID sector frustrates

French smart card manufacturer Axalto has announced record financial statistics for 2005, but the division responsible for ID card and passport projects did not perform as well as expected.

The supplier’s full year 2005 revenue came in at US$992 million, a 3% increase at on the US$960 million revenue recorded in 2004. Fourth quarter 2005 revenue was down by 5% on the same year-earlier period, however, to US$267 million – although the fourth quarter of 2004 was the strongest quarter in Axalto’s history.

Olivier Piou, Axalto’s CEO commented: “After an excellent first semester performance Axalto’s second part of the year was more difficult, especially in the public sector and in Asia where the market temporarily contracted and finished at significantly lower levels than had been expected at the beginning of the year.”

Axalto’s Public sector division was the worst performer. In 2005 it made US$79.8 million in revenue, down 19% from US$98.4 million in 2004. The company commented: “This product line disappointed this year, as large national projects for electronic identity and passports took much longer to materialize than had initially been anticipated. Its performance during the second half of the year also suffered in comparison with the same period of 2004, when a large patent licensing contract and significant Pay TV revenue had been recorded.”