FPC Continues to Battle Falling ASPs in Q3 Update

Fingerprint Cards has issued its results for the latest quarter, showing a dip in revenues as mobile fingerprint sensors ASPs continue to fall.

The company saw revenues of SEK 352.5 million in Q3 of 2019, compared to revenues of SEK 431.2 million in the third quarter of 2018. Commenting on the results, CEO Christian Fredrikson noted that while sales of Fingerprint Cards’ capacitive sensors in the mobile sector were largely healthy, Average Selling Prices of fingerprint sensors have continued to drop, and FPC hasn’t yet attained a design win for in-display fingerprint sensors.

Meanwhile, revenues from FPC’s smart cards, automotive, and embedded solutions business lines were lower after previous, strong quarters. “The market for biometrics outside the mobile industry is growing, but it is fragmented, and – so far – significantly smaller than the smartphone market,” Fredrikson asserted.

Nevertheless, while Fingerprint Cards reports a negative operating profit of SEK -3.4 million, compared to a positive operating profit of SEK 7.0 million a year ago, the company saw an overall improvement in its overall result for the latest quarter. That came in at SEK 5.8 million, compared to a profit of SEK 2.9 million in Q3 of 2018.

And Fredrikson is upbeat about Fingerprint Cards’ prospects going forward. On the mobile front, the company continues to focus on releasing cost-competitive fingerprint sensors, with its latest model being the FPC1520; and the company has been making important steps in the realm of biometric payment cards in anticipation of large-scale commercial launches to come. “Fingerprints is uniquely positioned in the industry, perhaps best illustrated by the fact that our technology is being used in all published market tests to date of contactless biometric payment and credit cards around the world,” Fredrikson said.

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November 15, 2019 – by Alex Perala