COMPANY CONTACTS:
Kenneth Traub
President and Chief Executive Officer
Tel. (914) 593-0809
KTRAUB@ABNH.COM
Alan Goldstein
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Tel. (914) 593-0844
AGOLDSTEIN@ABNH.COM
AMERICAN
BANK NOTE HOLOGRAPHICS REPORTS
FOURTH QUARTER AND YEAR END FINANCIAL RESULTS
Elmsford, NY - March 18,
2004 – American Bank Note Holographics, Inc. (“ABNH”) (OTC
Bulletin Board: ABHH) a world leader in the origination, production and marketing
of holograms for security applications, today announced financial results
for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2003.
Net income for the year ended December 31, 2003 was $1.0 million, or $0.05 per share, compared with a net loss of $8.1 million, or $0.44 per share, for the year ended December 31, 2002. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2003 was $0.4 million, or $0.02 per share, compared with a net loss of $9.0 million, or $0.49 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2002. The results for the year ended December 31, 2002 were impacted by nonrecurring matters, which included non-cash impairment charges to write off goodwill and fixed assets of $9.3 million included in costs and expenses, and $0.7 million of patent and other settlements included in other income in the accompanying statements of operations.
Sales for the year ended December 31, 2003 were $18.3 million, compared with
$18.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2002. Sales for the fourth quarter
of 2003 were $4.8 million, compared with $4.5 million for the fourth quarter
of 2002.
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ABNH REPORTS FOURTH QUARTER AND YEAR END FINANCIAL RESULTS/2
Kenneth H. Traub, president and CEO of ABNH, commented, “I am pleased to report several noteworthy accomplishments for 2003:
• Record Profits – This year, ABNH recorded its highest profits since becoming a public company. The fourth quarter was particularly strong with over $0.6 million of pretax profits. We achieved record profits despite the expiration of a patent license agreement in January 2003 which had generated approximately $0.5 million of income in each prior year. We achieved the record profits by focusing our sales on core strategic markets, and by continuing to improve the efficiency of our operations.
• MasterCard – We signed 2 important contracts with MasterCard which expanded our relationship and extended our agreement to at least 2011.
• VISA – We have expanded our relationship with VISA with new products that had a positive impact in 2003, and have attractive growth potential.
• Other Transaction Cards – We have continued to strengthen our position in the transaction card market with many other issuers and manufacturers of cards.
• Identification Cards – We closed several new projects for secure ID products with agencies of the United States government and foreign governments in 2003. We anticipate continued increase in demand for our proprietary and innovative solutions for secure ID documents.
• Pharmaceutical Products – We were actively involved in an initiative with the FDA that resulted in a report issued by the FDA addressing the urgent need to combat the problem of counterfeit drugs. The FDA report specifically referenced security holograms as an authentication technology that could be an important part of an effective anti-counterfeiting strategy. Also in 2003, we expanded our relationship with Eli Lilly, and we started supplying security packaging solutions to another major global pharmaceutical company. We anticipate other major pharmaceutical companies will implement our security packaging solutions in the coming years.
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ABNH REPORTS FOURTH QUARTER AND YEAR END FINANCIAL RESULTS/3
• Financial Position – We concluded 2003 with over $11 million of cash and no debt. We are well positioned to invest in continuing to strengthen ABNH’s operating and strategic position.”
About American Bank Note Holographics, Inc.
American Bank Note Holographics is a world leader in the origination, production,
and marketing of holograms. The Company’s products are used primarily
for security applications such as counterfeiting protection and authentication
of transaction cards, identification cards, documents of value, consumer and
industrial products as well as for packaging and design applications. ABNH
is headquartered in Elmsford, NY. For more information, visit www.abnh.com
# # #
ABNH Forward-Looking
Statement
This news release includes forward-looking statements that involve risks
and uncertainties. Although the Company believes such statements are reasonable,
it can make no assurance that such statements will prove to be correct. Such
statements are subject to certain factors that may cause results to differ
materially from the forward-looking statements. Such factors include the risk
factors discussed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, a copy of
which may be obtained from the Company without charge. The Company undertakes
no obligation to publicly release results of any of these forward-looking
statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to
reflect the occurrence of unexpected results.
This release and prior releases are available on the ABNH
Web site at www.abnh.com
-Financial Tables to Follow-
ABNH REPORTS FOURTH QUARTER AND YEAR END FINANCIAL RESULTS/4
AMERICAN BANK NOTE HOLOGRAPHICS, INC.
BALANCE SHEETS
(In thousands, except share data)
ABNH REPORTS FOURTH QUARTER AND YEAR END FINANCIAL RESULTS/5
AMERICAN BANK NOTE HOLOGRAPHICS, INC.
STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(In thousands, except per share data)
