GPIC is increasing its production capabilities in respond to its large backlog, which totaled $20 million in November.
Gaming Partners International Corporation, a World Leader in RFID Technology, to Participate in Ice Show in London; Company Also Announces Production Expansion to Accommodate Significant Order Backlog
Friday January 20, 8:30 am ET
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Gaming Partners International Corporation (Nasdaq: GPIC - News) today announced that it will present and participate in the International Casino Exhibition (ICE) in London, England from January 24-26, 2006. The Company also reported that it is expanding production at facilities in France and Mexico.
The Company -- a leading manufacturer and supplier of casino table game supplies under the brand names Bourgogne & Grasset, Bud Jones and Paulson -- will have its sales team at ICE next week to showcase a broad range of well known chips, plaques and jetons, all of which can be produced with Radio Frequency Imbedded Devices (RFID). GPI owns several international patents and several other patent applications on RFID embedding technologies. Live presentations of some of the latest RFID readers and software for RFID chips will be held throughout the show.
The Company announced that, along with the state-of-the-art RFID chips, it will be displaying several types of readers for use in casino operations, in various formats, capable of being configured and installed at various locations, including: cashiering points, on tables for quick verifications, embedded in float trays on all table games enabling instant authentication and reconciliation of floats, in cages, vaults, or near the pit bosses.
Separately, Gerard P. Charlier, President and CEO commented, "Due to the very large backlog of production, previously disclosed in the company's third quarter Form 10-Q at September 30, 2005, we have greatly expanded our French production unit to accommodate all of the Bourgogne & Grasset chip, plaque and jeton orders. As of November 4, 2005, for orders expected to be filled in 2006, our backlog for 2006 was already approximately $20 million, primarily due to casino growth in Macau and increased demand for RFID gaming chips. Production capacity and efficiency have been significantly increased by building extensions, investments in new very high-tech machinery and running three shifts in order to accommodate the increased demand for RFID and non-RFID chips."
"At the same time we keep increasing our production capacity of RFID Paulson chips from our facility in Mexico and of Bud Jones chips in Las Vegas, as the U.S. market is also getting larger and larger," the Gaming Partners CEO said.
Charlier continued: "After the success of the 2005 Global Gaming Expo held this past September 2005 in Las Vegas, the increase in RFID orders, and the significant growth of our backlog, we fully expect that this ICE presentation will be an even greater success for us. Our significant backlog includes large order quantities of RFID chips, which demonstrates market acceptance and validates the technology in gaming chips for use in table games and provides a working, cost effective and readily available management tool."
With respect to RFID gaming chips, Charlier noted that "the company holds the exclusive license until 2015 on two patents owned by IGT and Shuffle Master for the sale and use of RFID gaming chips and readers in the United States for chip tracking purposes. We maintain our very active development program designed to strengthen and expand our leadership position in this key product segment."
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