Zwipe H2 2022 results – Q4 revenue strongest on record

OSLO, NORWAY – 3 February 2023 – Zwipe AS ("Zwipe" or "the company") today announces its results for the second half of 2022.

Significant events H2 2022

• The board of Zwipe proposed a fully guaranteed rights issue raising approximately NOK 100 million conditional on the approval of an extraordinary general meeting.

• Zwipe announced a significant commercial order for Zwipe Pay totaling $225,000 from a large European Smart Card manufacturer (“SCM”). Zwipe also received another commercial order for Zwipe Pay totaling approximately $80,000 from a leading SCM in the Middle East and two smaller commercial orders from two SCM customers in the APAC region. 

• Mastercard certified the Zwipe Pay biometric payment card (“BPC”) platform, followed by Tag Systems obtaining the Mastercard Letter of Approval (“LoA”) for cards built on the Zwipe Pay platform.  KL Hi-Tech was the fourth SCM customer to receive Visa LoA for its BPCs built on the Zwipe Pay platform.

• Zwipe was chosen by a respected Tier-2 SCM in Europe for their BPCs. 

• Civix announced a partnership with Zwipe to bring biometric access control cards to airports in the USA and elsewhere in the Americas.

• Fraport announced that the project on biometric access control at Frankfurt Airport (The Digital Factory Project) was successfully completed. 

H2 2022 operational review

Zwipe ended the year on a positive note with sequential quarterly growth of 172% and 2.3 mNOK in Q4 revenue, the highest sales revenue in a quarter in Zwipe’s history. During the fourth quarter, we announced the single largest commercial order in a quarter to date for Zwipe and received other smaller orders from SCMs in the Middle East and Asia.  Further traction with these SCMS is expected in 2023. 

Zwipe’s first major focus for Zwipe Pay in the period was on executing our signed issuers’ pilots. In total, seven issuer pilot projects are being executed – including our first pilot with a major Nordic bank, the global Tier-1 bank pilot and the MEPS pilot. Owing to recently implemented technical changes to improve user experience and product performance, we expect not only streamlined pilot project execution but a significantly faster pace of pilot project launches in the coming quarters.

The second focus for Zwipe Pay in the second half was helping our SCM customers get certified and production ready.  KL Hi-Tech in India became the fourth SCM to receive their Visa LoA for production of BPCs using the Zwipe Pay platform, while Tag Systems became the first customer to receive approval from Mastercard. The latter followed Zwipe’s own certification from Mastercard in August.

For Zwipe Access, we continued to lay the groundwork for commercial deployments in 2023. We successfully completed the pilot project for Fraport AG at Frankfurt International Airport, and Zwipe is shortlisted as an access control solutions provider when Fraport moves forward with its tender process in 2023. We also further strengthened our position in the airport vertical when Civix, a leading US provider of airport security solutions, selected Zwipe’s access control technology to augment their airport security propositions.

On the organizational side, after significant management changes in the first half, Jens Hansen joined the management team in September to head up the newly created Customer Success department.

H2 2022 financial review

Zwipe reported total revenues of 3.1 mNOK during H2 2022 versus 1.1 mNOK in H2 2021, mostly related to the sale of payment products and services. Total operating expenses increased by 2.1 mNOK to 59.6 mNOK in H2 2022 from 57.5 mNOK in H2 2021. Net income for H2 2022 was -56.5 mNOK, essentially unchanged from -56.4 mNOK in H2 2021.  For the full year, revenue was 3.9 mNOK compared to 2.5 mNOK in 2021. Adjusted EBITDA totaled -96.4 mNOK in 2022 compared to -81.7 mNOK in 2021.

During the second half of 2022, cash flow from operations and investments, before financing and facilitation, decreased by -13.4 mNOK to -60.6 mNOK. The underlying average monthly operating cash flow in the second half of 2022 was -10.1 mNOK compared to -7.9 mNOK in the same period last year. This was in line with expectations, and the average monthly burn rate is expected to decrease again in 2023.

On 31 December 2022, cash and equivalents were 50.5 mNOK, down from 152.3 mNOK at the end of 2021, and down from 109.7 mNOK on 30 June 2022. Total equity as of 31 December 2022 was 55.4 mNOK. Total liabilities totaled 14.1 mNOK on 31 December 2022 and were entirely comprised of short-term liabilities. This resulted in an equity ratio of 80%, roughly stable versus the position at the end of 2021.

On 22 November 2022, Zwipe announced a rights issue raising approximately 100 mNOK in capital. The rights issue is fully guaranteed through a combination of subscription commitments and underwriting commitments from the three largest shareholders in Zwipe. It is being carried out in order to strengthen the company’s financial position and enable the transition from start-up to scale-up.  The transaction is expected to close in March 2023 and will ensure the Group has sufficient working capital for the period covering at least 12 months from the date of close.

Going forward

We enter the new year with good momentum in the order book and belief that organization is structured to enable a year of significant growth.  Zwipe will use the funds from the rights issue to execute on our technology roadmap, accelerate our go-to-market strategy in both Zwipe Pay and Zwipe Access, assist our SCMs in becoming certified and mass production ready, and progress more rapidly with pilot projects.

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Results presentation

CEO Robert Puskaric and CFO Danielle Glenn will present the H2 2022 results by webcast today, Friday February 3rd, at 10:00 CEST.

Webcast details

Date: 3 February 2023

Time: 10:00 CET

Format: Webcast and Q&A

Language: English

Link: https://app.webinar.net/jQ7xPJLdgnw

Participants will be required to register to view the webcast and participate in the Q&A

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This information is subject to the disclosure requirements in the Market Abuse Regulation (EU 596/2014) and the Norwegian Securities Trading Act section 5-12, and is information that Zwipe AS is obligated to make public pursuant to the continuing obligations of companies admitted to trading on Euronext Growth Oslo (Euronext Growth Oslo Rule Book – Part II) and on Nasdaq First North Growth Market. Certified Adviser on Nasdaq First North is FNCA Sweden AB, info@fnca.se . The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out below, at 08:00 on 3 February 2023.                   

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About Zwipe

Zwipe believes the inherent uniqueness of every person is the key to a safer future. We work with great passion across networks of international organizations, industries and cultures to make convenience safe and secure. We are pioneering next-generation biometric card and wearables technology for payment and physical & logical access control and identification solutions. We promise our customers and partners deep insight and frictionless solutions, ensuring a seamless user experience with our innovative biometric products and services. Zwipe is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with a global presence.  To learn more, visit http://www.zwipe.com.

For more information, please contact:

Danielle Glenn, CFO and Head of IR
+47 909 98 201