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France-based Xiring, which makes card readers for online banking and chip-based health cards, said Tuesday that revenues for the first half of 2008 reached 12.9 million euros (US$20.5 million), up 58% from 8.17 million euros for the same period last year. Second-quarter revenues totaled 7.5 million euros, up 42% from 5.3 million during the same period in 2007, Xiring said in a statement. The company predicts 2008 revenues would increase 20% compared with the previous year, to 28.5 million euros. Revenue from Xi-Sign devices used to authenticate online bankers and shoppers reached 6 million euros in the first half of this year, up 107% from 2.9 million euros for the same period last year, the statement notes. The revenue mostly came from "outside of France and notably in the [United Kingdom], where several large-scale deployments of the Xi-Sign [devices] are under way in the banking sector," the statement says. The company plans to release full results for the first half of this year on 16 Sept.
