Profile: Transact Technologies Inc (TACT.O)

TransAct Technologies Incorporated (TransAct), incorporated in June 1996, designs, develops, assembles, markets and services transaction printers under the Epic and Ithaca brand names. The Company’s thermal, inkjet and impact printers generate transaction records such as receipts, tickets, coupons, register journals and other documents. TransAct focuses on two core markets: banking and point-of-sale (POS) and casino, gaming and lottery. The Company sells its products to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), value-added resellers (VARs), selected distributors, as well as directly to end users. The Company’s product distribution spans across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean Islands and the South Pacific. The Company has one primary operating facility located in Ithaca, New York, its printer sales headquarters and western region service center in Las Vegas, Nevada, an eastern region service center located in New Britain, Connecticut, a European sales and service center in the United Kingdom, and a sales office located in Macau and two other sales offices located in the United States.

Printers

TransAct’s array of transaction-based printers utilizes inkjet, thermal and impact printing technology for applications requiring up to 60 character columns. The printers are configurable and offer customers the ability to choose from a variety of features and functions. Options typically include interface configuration, paper cutting devices, paper handling capacities and cabinetry color. In addition to its configurable printers, the Company designs and assembles custom printers for certain OEM customers. In collaboration with these customers, TransAct provides engineering and manufacturing expertise for the design and development of specialized printers.

The Company’s banking and POS printers include hundreds of optional configurations that can be selected to meet particular customer needs. In the banking market, TransAct sells printers that are used by banks, credit unions and other financial institutions to print and/or validate receipts at bank teller stations. In the POS market, the Company sells several models of printers utilizing inkjet, thermal and impact printing technology. The Company’s printers are used primarily by retailers in the restaurant (including fine dining, casual dining, and fast food), hospitality, and specialty retail industries to print receipts for consumers, validate checks, or print on other inserted media.

In the lottery portion of its gaming and lottery market, TransAct supplies lottery printers to Lottomattica’s GTECH Corporation (GTECH), the Company’s largest customer and a provider of lottery terminals. These printers are designed for high-volume, high-speed printing of lottery tickets for various lottery applications.

In the casino and gaming portion of its casino, gaming and lottery market, TransAct sells several models of printers used in slot machines and video lottery terminals that print tickets or receipts instead of issuing coins at casinos, racetracks and other gaming establishments worldwide. These printers utilize thermal printing technology and can print tickets or receipts in monochrome or two-color (depending upon the model), and offer various other features such as jam resistant bezels and a dual port interface that will allow casinos to print coupons/promotions. In addition, the Company sells printers using thermal and impact printing technology for use in non-casino establishments, including game types, such as Amusements with Prizes (AWP), Skills with Prizes (SWP), Video lottery terminals (VLT), Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBT) and other off-premise gaming type machines around the world.

TransAct Services Group

Through its TransAct Services Group, the Company markets the sale of consumable products (including inkjet cartridges, ribbons and receipt paper), replacement parts and maintenance services for all of its products and certain competitor’s products. The Company’s maintenance services include the sale of extended warranties, multi-year maintenance contracts, around the clock guaranteed replacement product service TransAct Xpress, and other repair services for its printers. Within the United States, TransAct provides repair services through its eastern region service center in New Britain, Connecticut and its western region service center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Internationally, the Company provides repair services through its European service center located in Doncaster, United Kingdom, and through partners located around the world.

TransAct also provides customers with telephone sales and technical support, and a personal account representative to handle orders, shipping and general information. Technical and sales support personnel receive training on all of its manufactured products and its services. In addition to personalized telephone and technical support, TransAct also markets and sells consumable products around-the-clock, via its online Webstore www.transactsupplies.com.

The Company competes with Epson America, Inc., Transaction Printer Group, Star Micronics America, Inc., Citizen - CBM America Corporation, Pertech Resources, Inc., Addmaster, Samsung/Bixolon., FutureLogic, Inc., Nanoptix, Inc., and Custom Engineering SPA.