aGameOfThrones
01-13-2015, 10:33 PM
Yousuf Fahimuddin
In a new Friday filing with the Australian Securities Exchange, Redflex, a prominent red light camera vendor, said that it could be facing an immediate net book value loss of $3.2 million if it permanently loses contracts in New Jersey and Ohio. In November 2014, the company told investors that the North American market is a "low/no-growth market."
Since 2009, the Garden State has operated a pilot program with Redflex cameras, but that program expired on December 16, 2014. The New Jersey Department of Transportation is now set to analyze its five years' worth of data, write a report, and recommend whether to permanently halt the program or resurrect it.
Meanwhile, in Ohio, even after the state’s Supreme Court upheld their use, Governor John Kasich signed into law in December 2014 a new bill that requires a police officer's physical presence for tickets that are issued from traffic cameras. The law takes effect 90 days after the governor's signature, and it could mean that cities will have less of a reason to maintain their camera systems.
As Ars reported previously, Redflex has been under fire in particular as a result of its Chicago contract that resulted in an ongoing federal corruption case. In October 2014, one of the three defendants in that case pleaded guilty, which marked the first guilty plea in a high-level case involving Redflex.
Since losing the Chicago contract as a result of this corruption scandal, Redflex’s 2013 pre-tax profits in its North American division (its corporate parent is an Australian company) have plummeted over 33 percent—from $3.4 million in the first half of 2013 to $2.28 million in the second half. The company announced that it lost $1.2 million during its fiscal year ending June 30, 2014.
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/01/red-light-camera-vendor-redflex-freaked-out-it-may-lose-contracts/
In a new Friday filing with the Australian Securities Exchange, Redflex, a prominent red light camera vendor, said that it could be facing an immediate net book value loss of $3.2 million if it permanently loses contracts in New Jersey and Ohio. In November 2014, the company told investors that the North American market is a "low/no-growth market."
Since 2009, the Garden State has operated a pilot program with Redflex cameras, but that program expired on December 16, 2014. The New Jersey Department of Transportation is now set to analyze its five years' worth of data, write a report, and recommend whether to permanently halt the program or resurrect it.
Meanwhile, in Ohio, even after the state’s Supreme Court upheld their use, Governor John Kasich signed into law in December 2014 a new bill that requires a police officer's physical presence for tickets that are issued from traffic cameras. The law takes effect 90 days after the governor's signature, and it could mean that cities will have less of a reason to maintain their camera systems.
As Ars reported previously, Redflex has been under fire in particular as a result of its Chicago contract that resulted in an ongoing federal corruption case. In October 2014, one of the three defendants in that case pleaded guilty, which marked the first guilty plea in a high-level case involving Redflex.
Since losing the Chicago contract as a result of this corruption scandal, Redflex’s 2013 pre-tax profits in its North American division (its corporate parent is an Australian company) have plummeted over 33 percent—from $3.4 million in the first half of 2013 to $2.28 million in the second half. The company announced that it lost $1.2 million during its fiscal year ending June 30, 2014.
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/01/red-light-camera-vendor-redflex-freaked-out-it-may-lose-contracts/