Ideco to Supply Biometric Items for State Projects

IDECO has been appointed as a subcontractor to supply biometric components and systems to several suppliers contracted by the government for various projects.

The company, which sells fingerprint-controlled access and monitoring systems, said it was also awaiting the adjudication of other tenders for biometric readers. The criminal record-checking service, conducted by Ideco AFISwitch, was expected to continue to show strong growth.

The company had begun implementing the service for the Department of Transport for professional driver permits, which will constitute about 50% of capacity. The installation of background-checking equipment at SA's 350 testing stations was also under way and would continue throughout this year.

The company said the agreement concluded this month for the management of more than 300 000 identity profiles was in the implementation phase and would be completed early next year.

Ideco achieved an operating profit of R3,7m in the six months ended February, compared to a loss of R4,8m for the comparable period a year ago. This was a turnaround of R8,5m compared to the first six months, and R18,5m compared to the financial year ended August.

The major contributing factors to the improvement were the increase in revenue from credentials services as a result of the continuing roll-out of the AFISwitch service, and the inclusion of the MIE business, after its acquisition in July last year.