WISeKey International Holding Ltd posts US$36.4M H1 loss as revenue doubles
Gross margin reached about 48 per cent in the June half, while WISeQey shares are due to trade as WQEY on Oct. 5 after an ADS conversion.
Julian Okafor
Doubling first-half sales left shareholders with a deeper loss just as their U.S. depositary shares approached conversion into ordinary shares. WISeKey International Holding Ltd SWXWIHN NASDAQWKEY, the Swiss cybersecurity and digital identity group with a secure-chip business, reported on Sept. 30 first-half revenue of about US$11.4 million. Its net loss widened to US$36.4 million from US$22.3 million in the same half of 2025.
The sales figure itself had been disclosed on July 13 as an unaudited estimate. The Sept. 30 half-year release added gross profit of US$5.5 million, up from US$1.9 million. Operating loss rose to US$40.9 million from US$27.3 million. Management kept its forecast for full-year 2026 revenue growth of 50 to 100 per cent.
WISeKey's U.S. depositary shares NASDAQWKEY closed at US$5.68, down 4.14 per cent, according to that Google Finance page as of 4 p.m. EDT on Oct. 1. That quote preceded the company's Oct. 1 legal-completion notice, which its website published after the U.S. market close. The shares were due to trade under the existing symbol through Friday, Oct. 2.
The Oct. 1 notice said WISeKey had merged into WISeQey Corp., the British Virgin Islands holding company that now succeeds it. Each WISeKey depositary share is due one-half of a WISeQey ordinary share. Each existing Swiss Class B share is due one ordinary share unless its holder elected unlisted WISeQey Class B shares. The successor's ordinary shares are expected to start trading on Nasdaq and the SIX Swiss Exchange on Monday, Oct. 5.
Gross Margin Reached About 48 Per Cent
The Sept. 30 results put gross margin at approximately 48 per cent for the June half, against 35 per cent a year earlier. Revenue rose approximately 116 per cent from US$5.3 million, while the increase in gross profit did not prevent the wider operating and net losses. The July preliminary notice estimated growth of 115 per cent, against approximately 116 per cent in the Sept. 30 results. Both notices reported about US$11.4 million in first-half revenue.
The group reported approximately US$495 million in cash and restricted cash at June 30 and described its debt as minimal. Its July preliminary notice had used the words cash and short-term investments for an approximately US$495 million total, a different classification of the balance. Neither figure is a measure of first-half operating cash generation, and the release's topline sales figure is much smaller than the stated cash balance.
The Sept. 30 release put the commercial pipeline of its publicly listed semiconductor subsidiary, SEALSQ Corp. NASDAQLAES, above US$225 million through 2029, measured Sept. 22. More than US$100 million of it involved post-quantum projects. WISeKey described those sums as management estimates subject to customer validation, technical integration and conversion risk. They are prospective business, rather than revenue recognized in the US$11.4 million first-half total.
"Our priorities are now clear and measurable: convert the SEALSQ pipeline into revenue, bring our post-quantum products into volume production, complete the WISeSat and Quantisimo transactions, and expand our sovereign semiconductor infrastructure," WISeKey founder and chief executive Carlos Moreira said in the Sept. 30 release.
The distinction between recorded sales and proposed future work also ran through Mugglehead's earlier first-half technology earnings coverage. WISeKey's own next revenue test is its 50 to 100 per cent full-year growth forecast; the Sept. 30 release did not attach a dollar value to future sales from any particular post-quantum project.
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WISeQey Shares Are Expected to Trade October 5
The transaction followed a June 26 merger agreement and shareholder approval on Sept. 9, both dates given in WISeKey's results release. A Sept. 25 company notice had expected legal effectiveness on Oct. 2; the later Oct. 1 notice says the merger became legally effective a day earlier. WISeQey's operational headquarters and place of effective management were expected to remain in Switzerland under the September plan, despite the new British Virgin Islands domicile.
The Oct. 1 notice also sets out the alternative for Swiss Class B holders who elected unlisted WISeQey Class B shares: each old Class B share becomes ten new Class B shares. For holders of the Nasdaq depositary shares, the one-for-two exchange means an unadjusted comparison of the old depositary-share quote with a future ordinary-share quote would use different share units. The announcement gives the exchange ratio, not an opening price for the successor's shares.
The first market test is the expected Oct. 5 opening on Nasdaq and SIX, when WISeQey ordinary shares are due to replace the legacy securities. The next operating test comes with the full-year 2026 results against management's 50 to 100 per cent sales-growth forecast, for which the Sept. 30 release gave no publication date.
