The facial recognition specialist Seeing Machines (LON: SEE) has recruited a leading figure in Australian commerce to the post of non-executive chairman.

He is Terry Winters, 67, who is currently chairman of Australian Home Care Services, Converge International and Intelledox and is a director of Future Fibre Technologies and Many Rivers Microfinance.

He led the team which created Optus Communications, Australia's second telecommunications carrier from 1989-1992 and remained on the board until 1995. Before that he founded Link Telecommunications. 

Seeing Machines chief executive Ken Kroeger said: "We are delighted to have attracted someone of Terry's calibre. 

“Terry has a track record of building highly effective businesses and his depth of experience will be invaluable to Seeing Machines. 

“Terry's appointment comes at a key time for Seeing Machines as the business continues to focus on commercialisation."

In the interim report covering the final six months of 2011, Seeing Machines said total revenues reached A$3.8 million compared with A$4.1 million a year earlier and net losses stood at A$936,801, up from A$748,934 for the first half of the previous year.

The DSS and faceAPI revenues reached A$1.98 million and A$205,317 respectively with the faceLAB product accounting for A$861,697.

Despite the decline in total revenues, Seeing Machines believes the first half represented a “sequential increase” over the previous six month period.

The company, which ended the year with A$1.1 million in the bank, also noted that revenues from Australian customers jumped more than fivefold, soaring 464 percent to A$942,057.

“It's particularly pleasing to see the growth of the DSS business in Australia and the revenue that has resulted from that,” said managing director and CEO of Seeing Machines Ken Kroeger.

“We expect that in this current period, a number of opportunities will be converted and that we will continue on our growth trajectory.”

Seeing Machines expects to see further growth across the DSS and API businesses and that “this will provide a strong foundation for the remainder of 2012 and into 2013”.

The company has high hopes for its DSS product, which it says has become the accepted standard in the area of fatigue detection and management for mine vehicle operators.

During the period, Seeing Machines expanded the DSS pipeline with new and existing customers across all regions, while also identifying new partnership opportunities that would expand its routes to the market.

In January, the company launched the latest version of DSS, which incorporated improvements based on extensive testing and field trials with customers. The company has also introduced a new service in response to the mining industry's requirement to reduce the impact of fatigue on operations. 

The group’s Fatigue Consulting Services will see a team of experienced consultants advice customers on ways to improve their mining operations by tackling fatigue.

At the API business, Seeing Machines has signed additional production license deals with Spatial View and Monster Media, which will deliver annual royalties to the company.

The company said it is progressing faceAPI licensing opportunities, expecting the technology to generate significant revenues.

Seeing Machines is currently developing the next generation of its gaze technology, which will feature in its existing and future products.

Meanwhile, researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) are working on refining and proving the scientific methods on which the TrueVision product for vision testing devices is based with the results expected in the second half of calendar year 2012.

The ANU researchers believe that the product will have applicability beyond glaucoma, the initial eye disease targeted.

Exciting barely covers it. We have a line-up that offers something for everyone at the Proactive Investors One2One Forum in London next Thursday (February 9). We have ImmuPharma and Oxford Pharmascience presenting alongside Seeing Machines and Probability. 

Each has attracted an incredible amount of interest. So if you haven’t signed up already, you really need to do so soon to avoid disappointment. Please click here to register for the event.

All the hard work is starting to pay off for mobile gambling specialist Probability (LON:PBTY), which is at the inflection point.

The latest results showed that sales are starting to take off, while the business came close to break-even despite significant increases in marketing spend, particularly on TV. 

A recent report by the City broker Numis suggested Probability would be a logical partner for Facebook as the social media giant seeks to boost its mobile revenues. 

Joining us to talk about this and all the other developments at Probability will be chief executive Charles Cohen.

Seeing Machines (LON:SEE) is an expert in the cutting edge arena of facial recognition. 

The technology is being used in a fatigue monitor for drivers, and is also an integral part of the world’s first 3D laptop.

However this is a fraction of its potential as Ken Kroeger will reveal when he joins us at the Chesterfield Mayfair Hotel. 

“There are so many uses for this technology,” he said in a recent interview.

“We are talking to all the big players in the handheld device space. There are some technical challenges there moving it to low output devices, but be if we can get there it will be big.

“If you can move it into an area where you are selling tens or twenty million devices – even at a fraction of dollar a time you are still talking a lot of money.”

Oxford Pharmascience (LON:OXP) is developing smart technology that could save its larger and more illustrious brethren millions a year in lost sales. 

Its suite of products allows medicines to be taken in various ways, which has the potential to create product extension for some the big over-the-counter and prescription drugs. 

“The model is changing for the big pharma companies,” said chief executive Nigel Theobald. He will be with us next Thursday to explain more.

Very rarely does a small drug company have the opportunity to do the same transaction twice – with every prospect of getting an even better deal the second time around. 

This is exactly what has happened with ImmuPharma (LON:IMM) and its leading drug Lupuzor, which is expected to attract the attention of the drug sector’s big boys.

“We expect Immupharma not only to re-licence Lupuzor sooner than the market anticipates (and this time with a big pharma company) but also that the up-front payment will be of a quantum that results in its enterprise value falling near to, or even below, zero,” said Navid Malik, analysts at Merchant Securities.

Bringing us up to date with events will be Dimitri Dimitriou.

Our investor forums are completely free to attend. Each company has approximately 30 minutes to give a short presentation and for Q&A. Please join us at 5:40pm to get yourself a seat and to allow for a prompt 6:00pm start. 

Following the presentations will be a complimentary bar and an assortment of the finest hot & cold canapes, giving you the opportunity to speak with the directors and other investors.

Facial recognition specialist Seeing Machines (LON:SEE) has appointed Jennifer Barnes to the position of chief financial officer with immediate effect.

She has held a number of senior finance positions in the private and public sector both here and in Australia and is a qualified certified practising accountant.

Managing director Ken Kroeger said: "We are delighted to welcome Jennifer to the Seeing Machines team. 

“The skills and experience she brings to the company will be critical for our success in this current phase of growth and in transitioning to profitability."

Seeing Machines is at the cutting edge of facial recognition and eye-tracking. Its technology is being used in the world’s first laptop with a three-dimensional screen, and it has also produced an in-cab system that monitors how alert lorry drivers are.

Mobbs will resign as chairman on December 31 this year, but continue as a non-executive director, the company said in a statement.

Long standing director David Gaul will take on the role of chairman from January 1 next year until a replacement is found, it added.

At today’s AGM chief executive Ken Kroeger said the focus in the coming year will be on building stronger marketing and sales capability in order to capitalise on the many opportunities "we are currently encountering".

As a result of the current pipeline Kroeger is confident that Seeing Machines will move into profitability in 2012.

The company develops face, eye and facial feature tracking systems for the consumer electronics, scientific and driver safety markets and in October this year, it reported a 60 per cent increase to its revenue for the year to the end of June 2011 to A$7.2 million from A$4.5 million a year earlier. 

Gross profit for the firm’s 2011 financial year also improved, to A$4.9 million from A$3.2 million but operational expenses incurred increased to A$6.7 million from A$5.2 million.

The expenses rise was ascribed mainly to increased investments in R&D for its Drive State Solution offering that uses face-tracking techniques to deliver information on driver (or operator) fatigue and distraction, as well as investments in the firm’s sales and marketing function and support staff.

Seeing Machines, which specialises in face and eye-tracking software for a variety of applications, said its revenue increased to A$7.2 million (2010: A$4.5 million). Gross profit for the firm’s 2011 financial year also improved, to A$4.9 million from A$3.2 million but operational expenses incurred increased to A$6.7 million (2010: A$5.2 million) on account of investments in R&D for its Drive State Solution offering that uses face-tracking techniques to deliver information on driver (or operator) fatigue and distraction, as well as investments in the firm’s sales and marketing function and support staff.

As a result, Seeing Machines' net loss for its 2011 financial year came in at A$2.2 million (2010: A$1.8 million loss). The firm’s cash position was also down, at A$1.6 million compared with A$3.9 million on June 30 2010, mainly due to investments made in DSS.

Highlights during the year included Seeing Machines’ DSS offering almost quadrupling revenue to A$4.3 million (2010: A$1.1 million). The firm said that its pipeline of customers continues to grow, and its strategy for DDS remains focused on the global mining and resource sectors through direct sales and channel partners; blue chip customers for DSS currently include Freeport-McMoRan, BHP Billiton, Newmont Mining Corporation, Toll Mining Services and Xstrata.

The firm also signed a significant production licensing deal for its faceAPI technology for glasses-free 3D displays for consumer electronics. faceAPI achieved revenue during the period of A$484,446 (2010: $A506,555)

For its 2012 financial year, Seeing Machines plans to significantly expand its customers for DSS in Australia as well as directly grow installations of the product in countries where that it directly services and supports, including the US, Canada and Indonesia, it said. It also plans to expand through channel partners in Africa and South America.

"2011 has been a period of considerable investment for Seeing Machines as we move forward with our strategy of commercialising our products and technology,” said Bill Mobbs, Seeing Machines’ chairman.

“During the period we have expanded our sales teams, improved our technology and further developed our service offerings. As a result, we are seeing an increasing number of opportunities and this in turn is leading to an expanding pipeline. As such, we are confident of continued revenue growth in 2012 along with an improved financial performance.”

UPDATE.. midafternoon performance

Seeing Machines Ltd (LON:SEE) attracted considerable buying interest today, with its shares putting on a hefty 125% to 4.5p by midafternoon, on news that Toshiba has launched a laptop incorporating its ‘faceAPI’ glasses-free 3D technology.

Under the terms of the licensing deal, Seeing Machines, which develops face, eye and facial feature tracking systems for the consumer electronics, scientific and driver safety markets, will receive royalty from each unit sold by the Japanese electronics giant.

The Aim-listed company says that Toshiba's new Qosmio F750 is the world's first 3D laptop that requires no special glasses for watching movies or playing games in 3D.

It regards its faceAPI technology as a key component underpinning the product’s glasses-free 3D capability, allowing the laptop's built-in webcam to track the viewer's eye position.

Initial reviewers write that the tracking is accurate and quick to respond. Engadget bloggers wrote that videos they watched on the F750 "were pretty mouth-watering", according to the company.

The latest development is a result of Seeing Machines’ cooperation with SuperD, a Chinese group developing 3D display technology.  In March 2011, Seeing Machines signed a production licence with SuperD for faceAPI, its suite of image-processing modules created specifically for tracking and understanding faces and facial features.

“The faceAPI/SuperD solution is being looked at closely by global players in the portable and tablet device market who are interested in this glasses-free liberating capability,” the company said in today’s statement, adding: “We believe this launch is the first of many and will provide strong impetus for growth of the faceAPI business particularly in the consumer electronics market."

The announcement in March was a reminder that the Seeing Machines business is not just about the DSS driver monitoring equipment that is increasingly rolled out to the mining industry.

It had been working together with Shenzen-based SuperD for approximately 12 months during the development of SuperD's new glasses-free 3D display solutions which include Seeing Machines' faceAPI.  It had forecast that the first consumer products were expected to be available in mid 2011.

The production license agreement sees Seeing Machines receive a royalty for every laptop computer, computer monitor or all-in-one-PC product that contains the SuperD glasses-free 3D display solution incorporating faceAPI.

Chief executive Nick Cerneaz said today: “We are very excited to be working with SuperD at the birth of this new imaging modality, and we look forward to further enhancing and enabling faceAPI's 3D visualisation capabilities as we continue to develop the product itself and its markets."

"This agreement springboards the faceAPI business into consumer-scale license volumes, and underlines the capabilities of the technology to leverage significant licensing revenue into the future," he added.

The big boost for the company today is in contrast to last month when its shares beat a retreat on a profit warning.

On 23 June Seeing Machines said full year revenue and, as a consequence, full year results for its current year will be “significantly below” market expectations.

The company said the shortfall is due to the delayed rollout of its “DSS” product at a single mining site. It is now scheduled for installation at the site in August 2011.

The group’s DSS suite is a robust, automatic platform that uses cutting edge face tracking techniques to deliver information on operator fatigue and operator distraction.

Seeing Machines said at the time that while it will see less DSS revenue in the second half of its 2011 year to 30 June than was reported for the first half, it has secured a number of significant new DSS mining customers in the current half.

Daniel Stewart & Co reiterated its ’buy’ stance on Seeing Machines, and its target price of 6.8 pence a share represents approximately 88 percent upside to the current price level.  It is expecting increased marketing activity to deliver further DSS orders in the second half.

Seeing Machines focuses on vision based human machine interfaces. Its technology platform allows machines to see and track human faces and certain facial features.