Hologram Industries, which specialises in fighting counterfeiting, is likely to hit its medium-term targets next year thanks to a stronger US presence and growth in manufacturing of holograms for use on bank money notes, its deputy chief executive said.
Along with bank notes, the French company makes and sells holograms for use on passports and ID cards, as well as products for groups ranging from Cartier jewellery to batteries used in Motorola phones.
The growth in forgery techniques linked to the rise of the Internet has made counterfeiting more and more accessible and lucrative for criminal organisations, triggering a need to develop more innovative solutions.
Hologram Industries, which posted sales of 31.9 million euros ($44 million) in 2010, said last October that it expected revenue to rise to 50 million in the medium term, with a 20 percent operating margin. In the first nine months of 2011, revenue rose 29 percent to 30.2 million euros. "Given that next year we'll again see double-digit growth, mathematically we shouldn't be far from our target," Gregory Wagemans said in an interview.
The company was founded in 1984 by entrepreneur Hugues Souparis, who controls 59 percent of the group.
Hologram Industries, which grew its US presence at the end of last year by acquiring Label Systems Authentication (LSA), gets nearly half of its sales outside of Europe and 14 percent in the Americas, with Asia being another key market.
"We want to increase our relative presence in the Americas region," Wagemans told Reuters. The company also wants to grab 10 percent of the market of holograms for banknotes, estimated at $200 million, in the medium term. "The banknote market is a true lever of growth for us, it's a market that's a priority," Wagemans said.
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