Penny Stock News From The OTC
Jul 28, 2008 7:00:00 AM
WALL, N.J., July 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BIO-key International, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: BKYI), a leader in wireless public safety and finger-based biometric identification solutions, announced today that it achieved profitability and strong revenue growth for its second quarter ended June 30, 2008.
Total revenue from continuing operations for the quarter ended June 30, 2008 was $3.6 million, an increase of 40.9% from the $2.5 million reported for the quarter ended March 31, 2008. The increase in revenues during the second quarter of 2008 was primarily driven by strong and record growth in BIO-key's Biometrics business. For the quarter ended June 30, 2008, Biometric revenues were $1.2 million compared to $353,000 in the previous quarter. Revenues from BIO-key's Law Enforcement business also show solid growth, increasing by 7.8% in the second quarter of 2008 to $2.4 million compared to $2.2 million in the previous quarter.
In commenting on the quarter's performance, Tom Colatosti, BIO-key Chairman said, "These financial results are a milestone event for the company. Indeed, within our emerging industry, few of our peers can match our achievement of GAAP profitability. Our results reflect the efficacy of our strategy, the superiority of our technology, the rising market interest in biometrics and mobile solutions and the commitment of our people."
"We are very pleased to report our first quarter of corporate profitability as well as record quarterly revenues generated by our biometric business," said Michael DePasquale, BIO-key's Chief Executive Officer. "Many of the initiatives that we deployed over the last few quarters, from partnership agreements with leading technology suppliers and wireless carriers to expense management, have enabled us achieve our major operating objective -- profitable growth. With the achievement of this objective, management is now focused on capitalizing on this momentum to achieve sustainable and growing profitability and revenue. We believe the marketing and technology strategies we have developed and our growing pipeline of businesses have us on the right track to deliver continued operating growth."
BIO-key's gross margin for the second quarter of 2008 was 88.2% compared to 82.6% for the previous quarter. The increase in gross margin was primarily attributable to an increase in the mix of biometric revenues reflecting the software license model of the biometrics business. Operating expenses from continuing operations for the second quarter of 2008 decreased by 5.8% to $2.9 million compared to the quarter ended March 31, 2008, reflecting a continued emphasis on cost containment as the company grows.
BIO-key's net income for the quarter ended June 30, 2008 was $168,000 compared to a net loss of ($915,000) for the quarter ended March 31, 2008.