WISeKey Releases CEO Letter to Shareholders

WISeKey Releases CEO Letter to Shareholders

2019 to be a Year of Continuing Growth due to Strong Demand for WISeKey’s Unique and Comprehensive Offerings

GENEVA & ZUG, Switzerland – WISeKey International Holding Ltd (“WISeKey”, SIX: WIHN), a leading cybersecurity and IoT company, today released a letter to shareholders from Carlos Moreira, Founder and CEO. 

Dear Shareholders,

As CEO of WISeKey, I am pleased to take this opportunity to summarize the highlights of the presentation we made on Tuesday, May 21, 2019 during WISeKey’s 2019 Annual General Meeting of shareholders, held in Zurich, Switzerland.

As previously announced, shareholders re-elected all serving members of the Board of Directors who stood for re-election. I was re-elected Chairman of the Board, and David Fergusson, Philippe Doubre and Maryla Shingler Bobbio were re-elected as members of the Nomination & Compensation Committee. Shareholders of WISeKey also approved all other proposals submitted by the Board. All proposals received support from shareholders representing more than 90% of total shares outstanding. 

At the Annual General Meeting, WISeKey’s management team also had the opportunity to discuss the Company’s  FY 2018 operational and financial performance, which due to a series of initiatives that we executed during the year, was substantially improved as compared to FY 2017 (see 2018 Annual Report – https://www.wisekey.com/investors/reports/financial-reports/).

Additionally, at the Annual General Meeting, we updated our shareholders on opportunities and growth initiatives we are currently pursuing and our goals for 2019 and beyond.  

In 2019, we have made significant investments to expand our sales force to take advantage of the higher demand for strong security, authentication, brand protection and anti-counterfeiting services for segments such as connected devices, connected cars, luxury products, pharmaceuticals and banking/financial sector.  We have also invested in our core IoT business to offer innovative products and solutions which will further reinforce our position as a major player for secured and trusted Blockchain architectures.

As a result, we further increased our geographic footprint and client base, which resulted in Q1 2019 revenues of $8.1 million from the Cybersecurity/IoT business segment.  This  trend which is expected to continue in the coming quarters, is backed by a solid 3-year Cybersecurity/IoT revenue pipeline of over $250 million.  

As a Swiss high-growth IoT company, WISeKey plays a critical role in supporting the country’s 4th Industrial Revolution strategy and it is a valuable asset for the country as it continues to maintain its technology independence and neutrality in the global markets.

The IoT revenue generated by WISeKey should be considered as premium revenue of strategic relevance and value within the Swiss economy. Many organizations that have invested in IoT deployments, have yet to derive any significant revenue from their solutions as business models are changing from transactional to collaborative while transactions and evolving from simple one-off payments to complex alternatives of usage-based billing.

WISeKey’s global expansion, particularly in North America, is built on a clear vision and business strategy and driven by unique and comprehensive offerings able to generate revenue from IoT devices, cybersecurity services, data analysis and more importantly our Trusted Ecosystem and Vertical Platforms.

Nethertheless, our stock price was negatively impacted by a number of factors, inclucing the current stock overhang as a result of a sizeable block of shares becoming freely tradable further to the completion of transactions earlier this  year, the low trading volume on the SIX Swiss Stock Exchange for our category of stock and the current market environment for IoT companies such as ours, particularly in Switzerland.  

We believe that as a global cybersecurity / IoT player, WISeKey is well positioned to take advantage on substantial opportunities in the cybersecurity and IoT market and continue its growth, organically and through acquisitions. We are committed to building long-term value for our shareholders.  

I’d like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to WISeKey’s shareholders, employees, customers, and Board for their continuous commitment and passion to advance this company forward.  We have work to do, but we’ve identified a strategic niche sector and  clear opportunities for improvement and are addressing them with focus and energy.

Respectfully, 
Carlos Moreira
Founder and CEO
WISeKey International Holdings

About WISeKey

WISeKey (SIX Swiss Exchange: WIHN) is a leading global cybersecurity company currently deploying large scale digital identity ecosystems for people and objects using Blockchain, AI and IoT respecting the Human as the Fulcrum of the Internet. WISeKey Microprocessors Secures the pervasive computing shaping today’s Internet of Everything. WISeKey IoT has an install base of over 1.5 billion microchips in virtually all IoT sectors (connected cars, smart cities, drones, agricultural sensors, anti-counterfeiting, smart lighting, servers, computers, mobile phones, crypto tokens etc.).  WISeKey is uniquely positioned to be at the edge of IoT as our semiconductors produce a huge amount of Big Data that, when analyzed with Artificial Intelligence (AI), can help industrial applications to predict the failure of their equipment before it happens.

Our technology is Trusted by the OISTE/WISeKey’s Swiss based cryptographic Root of Trust (“RoT”) provides secure authentication and identification, in both physical and virtual environments, for the Internet of Things, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. The WISeKey RoT serves as a common trust anchor to ensure the integrity of online transactions among objects and between objects and people. For more information, visit www.wisekey.com.

Press contacts:

Disclaimer:

This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning WISeKey International Holding Ltd and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of WISeKey International Holding Ltd to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. WISeKey International Holding Ltd is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities, and it does not constitute an offering prospectus within the meaning of article 652a or article 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or a listing prospectus within the meaning of the listing rules of the SIX Swiss Exchange. Investors must rely on their own evaluation of WISeKey and its securities, including the merits and risks involved. Nothing contained herein is, or shall be relied on as, a promise or representation as to the future performance of WISeKey.