Contactless Vending Gains 4000 More Machines with Latest Pact - Digital Transactions

(November 21, 2007) United States Technologies Inc., A Malvern, Pa.-based seller of card-reading devices for vending machines, this hebdomad announced another treaty with MasterCard Inc. that volition set United States Technologies’ e-Port G6 magnetic-stripe and contactless payment card readers in 4,000-plus more than vending machines. The trade stands for the 4th between the two companies in the past 18 calendar months and conveys to 17,500 the figure of vending machines already or soon to be equipped with the MasterCard-subsidized e-Ports.

USA Technologies is to “use its best efforts” to procure installing of 4,051 e-Ports inch beverage-vending machines throughout the country, with MasterCard paying the provider $395 for each successful installation, according to a United States Technologies filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The sum will be just over $1.6 million if all are installed by the mark day of the month of Dec. 31. United States Technologies is required to return a professional rata share for each uninstalled device as of that date.

MasterCard and United States Technologies first proclaimed a partnership in July 2006 involving 1,000 machines owned by The City Of Brotherly Love Coca-Cola Bottling Co. that would be outfitted with e-Ports. That November they followed up with a trade involving 5,000 more than in Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages machines. The 3rd and greatest treaty came in May and affects 7,500 e-Ports to be installed in Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. vending machines. All but 500 machines under that understanding had e-Ports installed by Oct. 31, the filing says.

USA Technologies executive directors were unavailable for remark Wednesday afternoon, but the filing phone calls the payments from MasterCard a portion of MasterCard’s “PayPass seeding initiative.” Type A MasterCard interpreter declines to speak in item about it, but states it’s portion of MasterCard’s attempt to maintain PayPass ahead of the battalion in contactless, and, noting that e-Ports also read magnetic stripes, to construct new credence locales for card game in general. “To acquire people to act a certain way, or pay a certain way, you construct critical mass,” helium says.

In a missive to stockholders on Monday, United States Technologies president and main executive director Saint George R. Johannes Vilhelm Jensen Jr. said the company installed a monthly record of 5,000 e-Ports inch Coca-Cola Enterprises machines during October. For the first financial 2008 one-fourth ended Sept. 30, United States Technologies’ radio web processed 1.8 million non-cash minutes totaling $7.3 million compared with 650,000 transactions totaling $4.3 million during the year-earlier quarter. The company posted record grosses of $3.36 million in the quarter, up 67% from a twelvemonth earlier. That didn’t defeat reduced e-Port terms and higher merchandising and other costs that resulted in a nett loss of $5.26 million compared with a loss of $3.68 million in the year-earlier quarter.

Despite the loss, the company had $25 million in hard hard cash and cash investings on manus as of Oct. 31, partly owed to a $15 million private arrangement of 2.14 million shares of stock at $7 per share. United States Technologies will utilize the arrangement to purchase more than e-Port devices for its new “Quick Start” programme aimed at getting the devices deployed quickly by giving vending machine proprietors a no-money-down option with monthly payments of $24.95 for hardware lease and associated radio web services.

Next up: a possible move into recognition card processing, according to United States Technologies’ up-to-the-minute yearly and quarterly studies with the SEC. “The company is also considering the possibility of becoming a recognition card processor (rather than a merchandiser as is currently the case),” the first-quarter study says. “We believe that becoming a recognition card processor would enable us to increase our processing grosses and gross profits.” The study doesn’t state when the company would do a decision.

USA Technologies also recently entered into a contract with an unrevealed maker with the purpose of getting a less terms on the e-Ports. If successful, United States Technologies have committed to purchase at least $3.6 million worth of the devices over 18 months, the quarterly study says.