 Setec, a Gemplus company, increases its passport and ID card production capacity in Finland
Vantaa, 2 November 2005, Setec, Northern Europe’s leading developer and manufacturer of visual and electronic card products, and a Gemplus company, today announces plans to double its passport and ID card production capacity. In this way, Setec will become the passport and ID technology competence centre within the Gemplus Group.
Setec’s Board of Directors has accepted a major investment plan for Setec’s production to meet the increasing demands of the biometric passport and polycarbonate-based ID market. The first phase will take place over the next six months with the increase of the capacity of the passport and ID card printing and lamination. Phase two will see the company investing in the finishing line for ID products.
This investment is being made in the light of Setec's recent successes in this market, and with the prospect of further opportunities from leveraging Gemplus's worldwide network. Many of these investments will be in place by the end of year.
“This investment plan clearly indicates Setec’s strength and expertise in the biometric passport and ID and EID card markets. We are delighted to be investing in Finland, in terms of both facilities and the 40 employees we have hired since the acquisition by Gemplus. This demonstrates clearly that we are reinforcing our position in the rapidly increasing identification and security market,” said Pekka Eloholma, President and CEO, Setec.
For further information, please contact:
Tuula Wayrynen
Corporate Communications Manager
Tel: +358 (0)9 8941 4532
Email: tuula.wayrynen@setec.com
About Gemplus and Setec
Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext: LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP) is the world's leading player in the smart card industry in both revenue and total shipments (source: Gartner-Dataquest 2005, Frost & Sullivan, Datamonitor). It has sold over 5.5 billion smart cards.
Gemplus delivers a wide range of secure, portable, personalized solutions in areas including Identity, Mobile Telecommunications, Public Telephony, Banking, Retail, Transport, Healthcare, WLAN, Pay-TV, e-government, and access control.
Setec, a Gemplus company acquired in 2005, develops, manufactures and delivers products that require extreme security, such as biometric and visual passports, electronic and visual ID cards, EMV cards and SIM cards. Setec’s major customers are public authorities, banks, and telecom operators. The company has operations in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Poland. It employs 400 people.
Gemplus's revenue in 2004 was €865 million.
www.gemplus.com
www.setec.com
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