France-based Inside Secure reported smaller operating losses for 2013, though mainly on an adjusted basis, and wrote off $3.6 million in NFC controller chips it had on hand as it continues to exit the market for the chips.
Inside, one of the pioneers in NFC chip technology, forecasts no new shipments of chips to its main customer for the product, BlackBerry, projecting that the handset maker will not order any new NFC chips during the first half of 2014. BlackBerry will use stocks of NFC chips it bought from Inside earlier.
“Given the fact that they are in a weaker vis-à-vis their competition and given the fact they there are significant inventories in the supply chain, we do not believe they will be able to order from us in Q1,” said Richard Vacher Detournière, CFO, said during a conference call with analysts Friday. “Also, we took the decision to write down to zero the NFC inventory we have on hand in order to start the year 2014 with a clean sheet, if I may say so.”
Its restructuring complete, Inside sounded optimistic tones, overall, for its new emphasis on embedded software and hardware security.
But while Inside had higher gross margins and profitability, especially in the second half of 2013, executives declined to commit to a forecast of break even in 2014. If that happens, it would be the first time it in the company’s nearly 20-year history that it would end the year in the black.
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In-depth look at Inside Secure’s 2013 results and outlook, with focus on NFC NFC chip write-down Inside’s NFC chip sales, 2011-2013 View of CEO on impact of HCE on Inside’s business Restructuring recapThis is premium content from NFC Times.