EXHIBIT 99.1
LASERCARD CORPORATION REPORTS RESULTS FOR
FISCAL FOURTH QUARTER AND YEAR ENDED MARCH 31, 2005
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF. - MAY 26, 2005 - LaserCard Corporation (NASDAQ:LCRD), a
leading supplier of ID credentials used in biometric identification, today
announced the financial results for its fiscal 2005 fourth quarter and year
ended March 31, 2005.
Revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005 were $5.8 million, compared with
$6.3 million in the prior quarter and $6.3 million in the same quarter a year
ago. The net loss for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005 was $3.0 million, or
$0.26 per share, compared with a net loss of $2.8 million or $0.25 per share in
the prior quarter, and a net loss of $363,000, or $0.03 per share, a year ago.
For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2005, LaserCard reported revenues of $28.5
million, an $11.6 million increase from prior fiscal year revenues of $17.0
million. The revenue increase is attributed mainly to the acquisition of
Challenge Card Design Plastikkarten GmbH and cards & more GmbH on March 31,
2004, which accounted for approximately $10 million of fiscal 2005 revenues. The
net loss for fiscal year 2005 was $8.9 million, or $0.78 per share, including a
net loss of approximately $450,000 from the German operations. The net loss for
the fiscal year ended March 31, 2004 was $12.4 million, or $1.15 per share. The
pre-tax loss for fiscal 2005 was $8.8 million compared with a pre-tax loss of
$5.3 million for fiscal 2004.
Fiscal 2005 revenues from LaserCard(R) optical memory cards were primarily from
sales of Laser Visa Border Crossing Cards and Green Cards for the U.S.
government, Permanent Resident Cards for the Canadian government, and Carta
d'Identita Elettronica (CIE) cards for the Italian government's development of
an electronic national ID card program.
Revenue from optical memory cards totaled $17.4 million for fiscal 2005 versus
$13.4 million for fiscal 2004. Revenue from read/write drives, drive accessories
and maintenance totaled $0.9 million for fiscal 2005 versus $3.4 million for
fiscal 2004.
As of March 31, 2005, the Company has received $15 million from Global
Investments Group a second-source optical memory card manufacturing licensee of
Lasercard Corporation. This has been recorded as long-term liabilities on the
balance sheet, including $13 million in advance payments and $2 million in
deferred revenue.
CASH AND INVESTMENTS
LaserCard Corporation's cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments and
long-term investments (the long-term investments have original maturities
ranging from 1 to 2.5 years) were $16.4 million at March 31, 2005, compared with
$20.9 million at March 31, 2004.
FY2005 HIGHLIGHTS
o Italian government successfully concluded experimental phase of
national ID CIE program using LaserCard optical memory cards and has
mandated the use of this card beginning January 2006;
o Continued to supply optical memory cards and drives for key U.S.
government ID programs;
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o Launch of Optical/Smart(TM) secure vehicle registration program in the
state of Delhi, India, where electronic vehicle registration is now
mandatory, and continued the Optical/Smart secure vehicle registration
program underway in the state of Gujurat;
o Continued to supply optical memory cards under Phase I of national ID
program in Middle Eastern country;
o Licensed Global Investments Group as second source manufacturer of
optical memory cards based in Slovenia to target Eastern European
market. Agreement calls for $41 million in payments to LaserCard, $15
million of which has been received, and for royalties to LaserCard on
certain future card sales;
o First government optical memory program launched in Latin America. New
LaserCard customer to use optical memory cards in permanent resident
application, requiring an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 cards per year;
o Successfully integrated two German card companies that were acquired
March 31, 2004. Enhances opportunities in the commercial market,
provides European base for selling optical cards and provides RFID and
contactless technology to broaden product offering;
o Changed name to LaserCard Corporation to align with recognized
corporate brand and restructured corporate entities to improve
efficiencies;
o Added two new independent directors to the board.
POST-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS
o Italy enacted law to replace paper ID documents with electronic
documents starting January 2006. LaserCard's optical memory stripe is
contained in CIE national ID cards and new PSE foreign worker cards;
o Follow-on orders for $7.3 million of LaserCards for use as Laser Visa
Border Crossing Cards and Green Cards for the U.S. government;
o Follow-on order for $1.8 million of LaserCards for use as Permanent
Resident Cards by the Canadian government.
"The order gap from the Italian national CIE ID program, which has been moving
from the experimental to the full implementation phase, significantly impacted
our performance for the year. However, we believe that Italy and our other key
programs are in good health and our business prospects in both the government
and commercial markets have strengthened over the past year," said Richard
Haddock, CEO of LaserCard Corporation. "FY2006 is off to a strong start.
Including orders received since April 1, we have optical memory card bookings
for shipment this year totaling nearly $10 million.
"Our main focus for FY2006 remains the implementation of the Italian program. We
are working closely with the government as well as key systems integrators to
successfully implement the program. We also anticipate participating in Italy's
new PSE card program for foreign workers, which we expect to ramp this year,"
said Haddock.
"In the Middle East, we are in active negotiations on the extension of the Phase
I contract with a new prime contractor," continued Haddock. "In coordination
with our resellers, we have proposed a new personalization package under which
we expect to sell, for the first time, a completely personalized optical/smart
card.
"We are engaged in marketing, sales and proposal activities for a variety of
optical and non- optical applications worldwide," continued Haddock.
"Additionally, with global security
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concerns on the rise, we are aggressively pursuing targeted commercial
opportunities in order to more fully exploit the potential of our optical memory
technology. Our German operations have developed an improved market opportunity
for RFID student cards, which in the past year have expanded to about 100 German
universities and opens new potentials."
EARNINGS RESULTS CONFERENCE CALL
LaserCard will hold a conference call to discuss the company's fiscal 2005
fourth quarter and year end results today, May 26, 2005, at approximately 2:00
p.m. Pacific Time / 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. For access to the conference call,
please call 210-234-0002 by 1:50 p.m. Pacific Time. A taped replay of the call
will be available for one week. To access the replay, please call 402-998-0567.
You will need to reference the passcode: LaserCard and the conference leader:
Richard Haddock. To listen to the call via the Internet, please log on to:
www.lasercard.com or www.vcall.com. The Internet Webcast will be archived for
one year.
ABOUT LASERCARD CORPORATION
LaserCard Corporation (WWW.LASERCARD.COM) manufactures and markets LaserCard(R)
optical memory cards, chip-ready Optical/Smart(TM) cards and other
advanced-technology secure identification cards. The Company has sold over 28
million secure ID cards to meet the demanding requirements for border security,
digital governance, and national identification in countries around the world,
including the United States, Canada, Italy and India. In addition, the Company
manufactures optical card read/write drives and develops optical card system
software, card-related data systems and peripherals. The Company, headquartered
in Mountain View, Calif., operates two wholly owned German subsidiaries:
Challenge Card Design Plastikkarten GmbH, which manufactures advanced-technology
cards; and cards & more GmbH, which markets cards, system solutions, and card
personalization printers.
Forward Looking Statement Disclaimer
All statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts are
forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. They are not guarantees
of future performance or events. Rather, they are based on current expectations,
estimates, beliefs, assumptions, and goals and objectives and are subject to
uncertainties that are difficult to predict. As a result, our actual results may
differ materially from the statements made. Often such statements can be
identified by their use of words such as will, intends, expects, plans,
believes, anticipates, and estimates. Forward-looking statements made in this
release include that our business prospects have strengthened for this year, our
anticipation of participating in Italy's PSE card program which we expect will
ramp up this year, that we will conclude negotiations for the program with the
Middle East country in which we will sell a completely personalized hybrid/smart
card, estimates of annual card shipments in our Latin American country program,
and our expected shipments under various booked orders and our future payment
receipts from Global Investments Group. These forward-looking statements are
based upon our assumptions about and assessment of the future, which may or may
not prove true, and involve a number of risks and uncertainties including, but
not limited to, political issues delaying temporarily or permanently the Italian
government's decision to move the CIE and PSE programs into the implementation
phase, the Italian government deciding for technical or financial reasons not to
proceed with the CIE or PSE programs or to switch from using our LaserCard
optical cards, negotiations with the new prime contractor for our Middle Eastern
country program not being concluded as anticipated,, card order shipments being
delayed or canceled or our having operational difficulties fulfilling them as
well as other risk factors detailed in the Company's Form 8-K, 10-K, 10-Q, and
other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Moreover there is no
assurance that the CIE or PSE programs in Italy, the secure vehicle program in
India, the national ID program in the Middle Eastern country, the permanent
resident application in the Latin American country, the RFID student card
program, or the second source production by Global Investments Group will be
successful or result in material revenues for the Company. Due to these and
other risks, the Company's future actual results could differ materially from
those discussed above. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the
date of this release, and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation
to publicly release updates or revisions to these statements whether as a result
of new information, future events, or otherwise.
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LASERCARD CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES
SUMMARY CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (UNAUDITED)
(In thousands, except per share amounts)
Three Months Ended Fiscal Year Ended
03/31/05 03/31/04 03/31/05 03/31/04
---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Revenues $ 5,779 $ 6,342 $ 28,544 $ 16,963
Cost of product sales 4,952 4,170 22,637 13,157
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Gross profit 827 2,172 5,907 3,806
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Selling, general, and administrative expenses 2,985 1,729 11,891 6,700
Research and engineering expenses 789 679 3,018 2,620
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Operating loss (2,947) (236) (9,002) (5,514)
Other income (expense), net 91 (124) 240 176
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Loss before income taxes (2,856) (360) (8,762) (5,338)
Income taxes 139 3 139 7,089
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Net loss (2,995) (363) (8,901) (12,427)
---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Net loss per share:
Basic and diluted $ (0.26) $ (0.03) $ (0.78) $ (1.15)
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Weighted-average shares used in
computing basic and diluted, net loss per share: 11,340 11,381 11,362 10,761
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LASERCARD CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (UNAUDITED)
March 31, 2005 and March 31, 2004
(In thousands, except share and per share amounts)
2005 2004
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ASSETS
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents $ 9,115 $ 11,688
Short-term investments 1,000 981
Accounts receivable, net of allowances of $56 at March 31, 2005
and $296 at March 31, 2004 1,934 2,550
Inventories 7,909 6,799
Prepaid and other current assets 1,352 1,276
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Total current assets 21,310 23,294
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Property and equipment, at cost 30,037 27,609
Less--accumulated depreciation and amortization (17,505) (16,079)
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Property and equipment, net 12,532 11,530
Long-term investments 6,300 8,246
Equipment held for resale 4,061 2,419
Patents and other intangibles, net 923 978
Goodwill 3,321 3,321
Notes receivable 220 --
Other non-current assets 101 47
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Total assets $ 48,768 $ 49,835
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LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable $ 2,105 $ 4,249
Accrued liabilities 2,638 2,035
Deferred tax liability 641 608
Advance payments from customers 1,167 3,102
Deferred revenue 539 111
Bank borrowings and current portion of long-term debt -- 1,166
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Total current liabilities 7,090 11,271
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Advance payments from customers 13,000 500
Deferred revenue 2,000 --
Long-term debt, net of current portion -- 2,378
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Total liabilities $ 22,090 $ 14,149
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Commitments and contingencies
Stockholders' equity:
Preferred stock, $.01 par value:
Authorized--2,000,000 shares
Issued--none -- --
Common stock, $.01 par value:
Authorized--30,000,000 shares
Issued and outstanding-- 11,345,164 shares
at March 31, 2005 and 11,399,764 shares at March 31, 2004 114 114
Additional paid-in capital 54,155 53,816
Accumulated deficit (27,145) (18,244)
Accumulated other comprehensive income 209 --
Treasury stock (655) --
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26,678 35,686
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Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 48,768 $ 49,835
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