About Us : Corporate Profile
ID Data is the UK’s leading independent quoted smart card producer and one of the top European providers. The Company was listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market in October 2000.
Originally a fixed cost manufacturer of banking and loyalty cards, the Group has developed to be a variable cost provider of secure card based solutions for the retail, leisure, financial and government sectors. The Group concentrates its sales activity throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa where it has a number of cogent strategic alliances.
Since 1998, the Group has pursued a strategy of acquiring companies with specialist technical abilities in order to promote growth and stability in the longer term. In 1998, the Group acquired the plastic card businesses Rexam and GPT Card Technology, a Marconi business. Mids & Horsey and CardBASE Technologies were subsequently acquired in 2004. These acquisitions harnessed specialist smart card capabilities and a highly secure and ultra modern EMV accredited manufacturing plant.
ID Data has secure manufacturing and card personalisation capabilities in Petersfield, Hampshire (UK) and high volume low cost facilities in Bydgoszcz (Poland). Through these two sites, ID Data currently has the capability to produce up to 250 million cards per year. The Group’s manufacturing activities are supported by offices in Liverpool (UK), CardBASE in Dublin (Ireland) and Riga (Latvia), the latter office being set up to service the Baltic States. Consequently, ID Data is uniquely placed to react to the fast growing financial markets in Central / Eastern Europe through its presence in Latvia and Poland. We are in discussions to open a Swedish office to cover the Scandinavian market where we have historically enjoyed business from both banks and retailers.
The joint venture in Poland, which was established in August 2005, is being enhanced to increase its manufacturing capacity by a third. The site’s move towards EMV certification will thereby enable it to securely produce both MasterCard and Visa cards at competitive price points. The joint venture has reduced the Group’s costs of production substantially and when viewed in isolation returned a profit within its first eight months of operation.
Our new joint venture in Mumbai (India) is set to further increase our service capabilities whilst targeting opportunities within India and the tiger economies of the Far East. This new venture's primary focus will be on photo cards for the corporate ID, government identity and the rapidly developing Indian banking sector.
The Group’s joint ventures are supported via an integrated network of strategic global partnerships and suppliers. These include Toppan, Toshiba, Hitachi, STMicroelectronics and Verifone. Each strategic partner is a specialist and industry leader in its respective field. The breadth of our alliance network ensures that we can deliver unparalleled customer service, built upon added value, genuine innovation and total flexibility.
Our increased focus on sales and marketing, as evidenced by our recent rebranding, ensuring that the Group is fully market focused. Our vision for the business is encompassed in our corporate slogan 'Fresh Thinking'.
Over the past 12 months, ID Data has also won many new clients in the retail, banking and pre-paid card markets. Recent contract wins include the renewal of our major banking contract with the world’s largest bank for a further three years, together with the renewal of our contract with LMS, the company behind Nectar, Britain’s largest multi-retailer loyalty programme.
Last updated on 27th July 2007