Item 1. Business
Item 1. Business.
The Company
TransAct Technologies Incorporated (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, “TransAct,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) was incorporated in June 1996 and began operating as a stand-alone business in August 1996 as a spin-off of the printer business that was formerly conducted by certain subsidiaries of Tridex Corporation. We completed an initial public offering on August 22, 1996.
TransAct is a global leader in developing and selling software-driven technology and printing solutions for high-growth markets including food service technology, point of sale (“POS”) automation and casino and gaming. Our world-class products are designed from the ground up based on market and customer requirements and are sold under the BOHA!™, AccuDate™, Epic, EPICENTRAL®, and Ithaca®, brand names. During 2019, we launched a new line of products for the food service technology market, the BOHA! branded suite of cloud-based applications and companion hardware solutions. The BOHA! software and hardware products help restaurants, convenience stores and food service operators of all sizes automate the food production in the back-of-house operations. Known and respected worldwide for innovative designs and real-world service reliability, our thermal printers and terminals generate top-quality labels, coupons and transaction records such as receipts, tickets and other documents. We sell our technology to original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”), value-added resellers, and select distributors, as well as directly to end users. Our product distribution spans across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean Islands and the South Pacific. We also offer world-class service, support, labels, spare parts, accessories and printing supplies to our growing worldwide base of products currently in use by our customers. Through our TransAct Services Group (“TSG”), we provide a complete range of supplies and consumables used in the printing activities of customers in the restaurant and hospitality, retail, casino and gaming, and government markets. Through our webstore, www.transactsupplies.com, and our direct selling team, we address the demand for these products. We operate in one reportable segment: the design, development, and marketing of software-driven technology and printing solutions for high growth markets, and provide related services, supplies and spare parts. Our primary operating, hardware research and development, and U.S. service center is located in Ithaca, New York. In addition, we have a casino and gaming sales headquarters and software research and development center in Las Vegas, Nevada; a European sales and service center at our subsidiary in the United Kingdom (“UK”); and a sales office located in Macau, China. Our executive offices are located at One Hamden Center, 2319 Whitney Avenue, Suite 3B, Hamden, Connecticut, 06518, with a telephone number of (203) 859-6800.
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Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Global Supply Chain Disruptions
Since early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to cause uncertainty and disruption in the global economy and financial markets. We have also been impacted by global supply chain issues, increased shipping costs and inflationary pressures, which have increased our costs and, in some instances, slowed our ability to deliver products to our customers. During 2021, our inventory levels decreased significantly as a result of these supply chain disruptions, and we experienced significantly lower sales levels. However, during 2022 we were able to increase our inventory levels and minimize the impact to our customers by successfully modifying our products that were affected by supply chain disruptions, as well as sourcing component parts from alternate suppliers. Although we were able to increase inventory levels during 2022 and expect to continue to do so in 2023, there can be no assurance that new or continuing supply chain disruptions will not affect our products or that we will be able to make timely modifications to address any future supply chain issues that arise. Further, while we have offset most of our cost increases by increasing prices of our products, there can be no guarantee that we will be able to offset any future cost increases should they arise. After a slowdown in the first quarter of 2022 resulting from the Omicron and other variants of COVID-19, we continued to experience demand recovery during the remainder of 2022. Based on our strong backlog position and continued market share expansion, we expect this recovery to continue into 2023, though the exact timing and pace of recovery may be impacted by global economic conditions.
During 2020 and 2021, our gross margin was negatively impacted by significantly lower sales levels from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as increased material and shipping costs resulting from worldwide supply chain disruptions continuing into 2022. However, we saw significant improvement in the last nine months of 2022 resulting from significantly higher sales levels and price increases instituted on our products to mitigate higher material and shipping costs. Though we expect this trend to continue into 2023, our gross margin may be negatively impacted by the economic effects of any future cost increases that cannot be predicted, supply chain disruptions, inflationary pressures and potential new COVID-19 variants on the markets we serve.
Although in 2022 we continued to gradually return to more normalized pre-COVID-19 spending levels after implementing a number of cost saving measures in 2020 through 2022, we expect to continue to closely monitor our spending levels as circumstances warrant.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, our top priority has been to ensure the health and safety of our employees while continuing to provide our customers with high-quality, personalized service. After instituting work-from-home practices in 2020, we transitioned in 2022 to a more flexible hybrid model to accommodate both our employees and the needs of the business. In addition, even with the transition to a hybrid model, our internal control structure remains operational and unchanged.
Balance Sheet, Cash Flow and Liquidity
We have taken the following actions to increase liquidity and strengthen our financial position in an effort to mitigate the negative impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions and inflationary pressures:
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Public Offerings – On August 16, 2021, the Company raised net proceeds of $11.2 million (including the exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option on August 20, 2021), after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and offering expenses, through an underwritten public offering and sold an aggregate of 842,375 shares of common stock.
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PPP Loan – On May 1, 2020, the Company was granted a $2.2 million loan (the “PPP Loan”) under the Paycheck Protection Program (the “PPP”) administered by the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) established under Division A, Title I of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act, which enabled us to return employees we furloughed earlier in 2020 to full time employment and to restore employees to full pay following certain pay cuts. On July 8, 2021, we received notice that the PPP Loan had been forgiven as of July 1, 2021. See Note 8 for further details regarding the PPP Loan.
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Employee Retention Credit – Under the provisions of the CARES Act, the Company was eligible for a refundable employee retention credit subject to certain criteria. In connection with the CARES Act, the Company recognized the employee retention credit during the fourth quarter of 2021 as a $1.5 million “Gain from employee retention credit” in the Consolidated Statement of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2021 and recorded a $1.5 million “Employee retention credit receivable” in the Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021. We received these funds in the first quarter of 2023.
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Credit Facility – On March 13, 2020, we entered into a new credit facility with Siena Lending Group LLC that provides a revolving credit line of up to $10.0 million, subject to a borrowing base and on July 19, 2022, we entered into an amendment to extend the maturity of the facility to March 13, 2025. See Note 8 for further details regarding this facility.
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Reduced Capital Expenditures – We limited capital expenditures during 2020 and 2021 and gradually increased expenses during 2022 as our sales improved.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, there is no assurance that the actions we have taken in response to the pandemic, global supply chain disruptions and inflation are sufficient or adequate, and we may be required to take additional preventive or responsive measures, as the ultimate extent of the effects of these risks on the Company, our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, and cash flows are uncertain and are dependent on evolving developments which cannot be predicted at this time. See Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, of this Form 10-K for further discussion of risks related to COVID-19, global supply chain disruptions and inflation.
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Products, Services and Distribution Methods
Printers, terminals and other hardware: TransAct designs, develops and markets a broad array of transaction-based and specialty printers and terminals utilizing thermal printing technology for applications, primarily in the food service technology, POS automation, casino and gaming, and prior to exiting the market on December 31, 2021, the oil and gas printing markets. Our printers and terminals are configurable and offer customers the ability to choose from a variety of features and functions. Options typically include interface configuration, mounting configuration, paper cutting devices, paper handling capacities and cabinetry color. Our food service technology terminals also offer software configurable menu options and our food service technology market includes sales of optional hardware products including temperature probes, temperature sensors and gateways.
Food Service Technology (“FST”): Our primary offering in the food service technology market is our line of BOHA! products, which can combine our latest generation terminal and workstation which includes one or two printers and our BOHA! Labeling, timers, and media software. In addition, customers may individually purchase cloud-based software applications that connect to a separate application on a separate mobile device into a solution to automate back-of-house operations in restaurants, convenience stores and food service operations. The additional software offering of BOHA! consists of a variety of individually purchased software-as-a-service (“SaaS”)-based applications for both Android and iOS operating systems, including applications for, temperature monitoring, temperature taking and checklists and task lists. These applications are sold separately, and customers purchase the applications they need for their back-of-house operations. Customers may also purchase associated hardware, such as handheld devices, tablets, temperature probes and temperature sensors and gateways. The BOHA! Terminal combines   an operating system and hardware components in a device that includes a touchscreen and one or two thermal print mechanisms that print easy-to-read food rotation labels, grab-and-go labels, and nutritional labels for prepared foods, and “enjoy by” date labels. The BOHA! WorkStation uses an iPad or Android tablet instead of an integrated touchscreen. The BOHA! Terminal and the BOHA! WorkStation are equipped with the TransAct Enterprise Management System to ensure that only approved touchscreen functions are available on the touchscreen device and to allow over-the-air updates to the operating system. BOHA! helps food service establishments and restaurants (including fine dining, casual dining, fast casual and quick-service restaurants, convenience stores, hospitality establishments and contract food service providers) effectively manage food safety and grab-and-go initiatives, as well as automate and manage back-of-house operations. Recurring revenue from BOHA! is generated by software sales, including software subscriptions that are typically charged to customers annually on a per-application basis, as well as sales of labels, extended warranty and service contracts, and technical support services. In the food service technology market, we use an internal sales force to solicit sales directly from end users.
POS automation:   In the POS market, we sell a printer utilizing thermal printing technology. Our POS printer is used primarily by McDonald’s, and to a lesser extent, other quick-service restaurants located either at the checkout counter or within self-service kiosks to print receipts for consumers or print on linerless labels. In the POS market, we primarily sell our products through a network of domestic and international distributors and resellers. We use an internal sales force to manage sales through our distributors and resellers, as well as to solicit sales directly from end-users.
Casino and gaming: We sell several models of printers used in slot machines and video lottery terminals (“VLTs”) and other gaming machines that print tickets or receipts instead of issuing coins (“ticket-in, ticket-out” or “TITO”) at casinos, racetracks and other gaming venues worldwide. These printers utilize thermal printing technology to print tickets and receipts in monochrome and offer various other features such as jam resistant bezels and a dual port interface that enables casinos to print coupons and promotions. In addition, we sell printers using thermal roll-fed printing technology for use in international non-casino establishments, including game types such as Amusements with Prizes, Skills with Prizes, Fixed Odds Betting Terminals, sports betting establishments and other off-premise gaming type machines around the world. We sell our casino and gaming products primarily (1) to slot machine manufacturers, who incorporate our printers into slot machines and, in turn, sell completed slot machines directly to casinos and other gaming establishments and (2) through distributors. We also maintain a dedicated internal sales force to solicit sales from slot machine manufacturers and casinos, and to manage sales through our distributors.
We also offer a software solution, the EPICENTRAL Print System, including annual software maintenance, that enables casino operators to create promotional coupons and marketing messages and to print them in real time at the slot machine. With EPICENTRAL, casinos can utilize the system to create multiple promotions and incentives to either increase customer time spent on the casino floor or encourage additional visits to generate more revenue to the casinos.
TSG : Through TSG, we proactively market the sale of consumable products (including POS receipt paper, ribbons and other printing supplies), replacement parts, maintenance and repair services, and shipping and handling charges. Our maintenance services include the sale of extended warranties, multi-year maintenance contracts, a 24-hour guaranteed replacement product service called TransAct Xpress™ and other repair services for our non-FST products. Within the United States, we provide repair services through our service center in Ithaca, New York. Internationally, we provide repair services through our European service center located in Doncaster, UK, and through partners strategically located around the world.
We also provide 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 our products and services. In addition to personalized telephone and technical support, we also market and sell consumable products 24 hours a day, seven days a week, via our webstore, www.transactsupplies.com.
Sources and Availability of Raw Materials
We design our products to optimize product performance, quality, reliability and durability. These designs combine cost efficient materials, sourcing and assembly methods with high standards of workmanship. Almost all of our printers and terminals are currently produced by a third party manufacturer located in Thailand. A small portion of our products are assembled in our Ithaca, New York facility largely on a configure-to-order basis using components and subassemblies that have been sourced from vendors and contract manufacturers around the world.
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We procure component parts and subassemblies for use in the assembly of a small portion of our hardware products in Ithaca, New York. Critical component parts and subassemblies include thermal print heads, printing/cutting mechanisms, power supplies, motors, injection molded plastic parts, LCD screens, circuit boards and electronic components, which are obtained from domestic and foreign suppliers at competitive prices, subject to availability. As a result of the majority of our production being performed by our contract manufacturers, the majority of our purchases consist of fully assembled printers and terminals produced by our contract manufacturers and, to a much lesser extent, component parts. We typically strive to maintain more than one source for our component parts, subassemblies and fully assembled printers and terminals to reduce the risk of parts shortages or unavailability. However, we have experienced and could continue to experience some disruption due to certain suppliers being unable to source specific components and we could experience temporary disruption in the availability of components. In addition, we could experience temporary disruption if certain suppliers ceased doing business with us, as described below.
We currently buy a majority of our thermal print mechanisms, an important component of our thermal printers, and fully assembled printers for substantially all of our printer and food service technology terminal models, from a foreign contract manufacturer in Thailand. We believe that other contract manufacturers could provide similar thermal print mechanisms or fully assembled printers and terminals, on comparable terms. We do not have supply agreements with foreign contract manufacturers, and we believe that our supply of thermal print mechanisms and fully assembled printers will be adequate in 2023 and the foreseeable future.
Patents and Proprietary Information
TransAct relies on a combination of trade secrets, patents, employee and third party nondisclosure agreements, copyright laws and contractual rights to establish and protect its proprietary rights in its products. As of January 31, 2023, we hold 34 United States and 34 foreign patents and have two foreign patent applications pending pertaining to our products. The remaining duration of these patents ranges from one to 17 years. The expiration of any individual patent would not have a significant negative impact on our business. We regard certain manufacturing processes and designs to be proprietary and attempt to protect them through employee and third party nondisclosure agreements and similar means. It may be possible for unauthorized third parties to copy certain portions of our products or to reverse engineer or otherwise obtain and use, to our detriment, information that we regard as proprietary. Moreover, the laws of some foreign countries do not afford the same protection to our proprietary rights as do the laws of the United States. There can be no assurance that legal protections we rely upon to protect our proprietary position will be adequate or that our competitors will not independently develop technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to our technologies.
Trademarks, Service Marks Trade Names and Copyrights
We own or have rights to trademarks, service marks, trade names and copyrights that we use in connection with the operation of our business, including our corporate names, logos and website names. Other trademarks, service marks and trade names appearing in this Form 10-K are the property of their respective owners. The trademarks we own include TransAct®, BOHA! TM , AccuDate™, EPICENTRAL®, Ithaca® and Printrex®. Solely for convenience, some of the trademarks, service marks, trade names and copyrights referred to in this Form 10-K are listed without the ©, ® and ™ symbols, but we will assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights to our trademarks, service marks, trade names and copyrights.
Seasonality
Restaurants typically reduce purchases of equipment in the fourth quarter due to the increased volume of transactions during the holiday period, which may negatively impact sales of our food service technology products or POS printers.
Working Capital
Inventory, accounts receivable, and accounts payable levels, payment terms, and where applicable, return policies are in accordance with the general practices of the industry and standard business procedures. See also Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations of this Form 10-K.
Certain Significant Customers
IGT is our most significant customer, although to a lesser extent than in previous years, and has been since 1995. We sell casino and gaming printers and, prior to 2021, online lottery printers to IGT. On May 29, 2015, we signed an agreement with IGT to sell online lottery and casino printers to IGT on a non-exclusive basis through December 31, 2019. We decided not to renew the agreement upon its expiration and to exit the online lottery market. Although we no longer have an agreement with IGT, we expect to continue selling casino and gaming printers to IGT, as well as spare parts for our remaining, but declining, installed base of lottery printers, in the future.
Sales to IGT represented 10% and 9% of our total net sales for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
Backlog
Our backlog of firm orders was approximately $27.5 million as of February 28, 2023, compared to $14.2 million as of February 28, 2022. The increase in firm orders as of February 28, 2023 compared to February 28, 2022 is due primarily to advance orders placed by our casino and gaming customers due to increased production lead time, resulting from worldwide supply chain shortages caused by the pandemic. Based on customers’ current delivery requirements, we expect to fill and recognize as revenue $26.9 million of our current backlog during 2023, $0.5 million during 2024 and the remaining balance of the amount during 2025.
Competition
The market for transaction-based and specialty printers and food service technology terminals is extremely competitive, and we expect such competition to continue in the future. However, we experience less competition for EPICENTRAL software due to the highly customized nature of the product. We compete with a number of companies, many of which have greater financial, technical and marketing resources than TransAct. We believe our ability to compete successfully depends on a number of factors both within and outside our control, including durability, reliability, quality, design capability, product customization, price, customer support, success in developing new products, manufacturing expertise and capacity, supply of component parts and materials, strategic relationships with suppliers, the timing of new product introductions by us and our competitors, general market, economic and political conditions and, in some cases, the uniqueness of our products.
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In the food service technology market, we primarily compete with Zenput, Squadle Inc., Jolt Software, Avery Dennison Corporation, Ecolab Inc., ITD Food Safety, CMC Daymark, Integrated Control Corp, Digi International, and Toast. We compete in this market based largely on our ability to provide highly specialized purpose-built hardware products, different software applications that can be chosen by a customer and ongoing technical support. We rely upon third party developed software and hosting services combined with our own proprietary hardware and software to offer a unique BOHA! branded solution to support back-of-house operations in the food service industry. Our competitors or others may develop, or may establish relationships with developers with the capability to develop, software and services that are similar to or competitive with ours, which may be disadvantageous to our competitive position. Certain portions of our food service technology software are licensed from a third party developer on a non-exclusive basis through 2031 and are subject to a revenue sharing arrangement with the developer. We are reliant upon the third party developer to further develop and maintain its developed software, and the developer controls the software source code. The license agreement does not preclude the developer from working with others on similar products. Also, the third party developer hosts the web-based applications. Therefore, presently, we are highly dependent upon this third party developer for continued service to our customers and the further development of our food service technology software products.
In the POS automation market, we primarily compete with Epson America, Inc., which holds a dominant market position. We also compete, to a much lesser extent, with Star Micronics America, Inc. and Citizen -- CBM America Corporation. Certain competitors of ours have greater financial resources and lower costs attributable to higher volume production which enables them to occasionally offer lower prices than us.
In the casino and gaming market (consisting principally of slot machine printing, VLT transaction printing and promotional coupon printing), we compete with several companies including JCM Global, Nanoptix, Inc., Custom Engineering SPA, Eurocoin and others. Certain of our products sold for casino and gaming applications compete based upon our ability to provide highly specialized products, custom engineering and ongoing technical support. In 2022, we increased our overall market share due largely to our largest competitor’s inability to supply product due to supply chain issues.
In the oil and gas market, our Printrex products competed primarily with the products of Imaging Systems Group, Inc. and Neuralog Inc. However, we exited the oil and gas market at the end of 2021 in order to shift our focus toward our higher-value, technology enabled food service technology and gaming products.
The market in which TSG competes is highly fragmented, and we compete with numerous competitors of various sizes, including POS and internet resellers and paper converters depending on the geographic area.
Our strategy for competing in our markets is to continually develop and/or license new products (hardware and software), such as launching BOHA! in 2019, and product line extensions that are technologically advanced and provide differentiated features and functions, to increase our market penetration, to take advantage of strategic relationships, and to lower the cost of our products by sourcing certain products overseas. Although we believe that our products, operations and relationships provide a competitive foundation, there can be no assurance that we will compete successfully in the future. In addition, our printer products utilize certain thermal printing technologies and licensed software. If new technologies are introduced, or existing technologies evolve, we may be required to incorporate these technologies into our products. Alternatively, if such technologies were to become available to our competitors, our printer products could become obsolete, which could have a significant negative impact on our business.
Environmental Compliance
Our compliance with federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to environmental protection and discharge of hazardous materials has not had a material impact on our capital expenditures, earnings or competitive position, and we do not anticipate any material impact from such compliance in the future.
Available Information
We make available free of charge through the “Investor Relations” tab on our Internet website, www.transact-tech.com, our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements and all amendments to those reports and statements as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC pursuant to Sections 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). The SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. The content on any website referred to in this Form 10-K is not incorporated by reference in this Form 10-K unless expressly noted.
Employees
As of December 31, 2022, TransAct and our subsidiaries employed 128 persons, all of whom were full-time employees. None of our employees are unionized, and we consider our relationships with our employees to be good.
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Information about our Executive Officers
The following is a list of the names and ages of all executive officers of the registrant, indicating all positions and offices with the registrant held by each such person and each person’s principal occupations and employment during at least the past five years.
Name
Age
Position
Bart C. Shuldman
65
Chief Executive Officer
Steven A. DeMartino
53
President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary
Tracey S. Winslow
63
Chief Revenue Officer
Brent Richtsmeier
58
Chief Technology Officer
Bart C. Shuldman has been Chief Executive Officer and a Director of the Company since its formation in June 1996. Mr. Shuldman served as President of the Company from its formation until June 2010, when he relinquished the President title to focus on new products and markets, international expansion and potential acquisitions. Mr. Shuldman also served as Chairman of the Board from February 2001 through March 2022.
Steven A. DeMartino was named as TransAct’s President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary on June 1, 2010. Previously, Mr. DeMartino served as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary from June 2004 to May 2010, Senior Vice President, Finance and Information Technology from October 2001 to May 2004, Vice President and Corporate Controller from January 1998 to October 2001, and Corporate Controller from August 1996 to December 1997. Mr. DeMartino is a certified public accountant.
Tracey S. Winslow was appointed Chief Revenue Officer of the Company in March 2023 with responsibility for worldwide sales in all of the Company’s markets. Prior to this appointment, Ms. Winslow served as Senior Vice President, Casino and Gaming Sales from June 2010 to February 2023, with responsibility for the sales and marketing of all casino and gaming products. Previously, Ms. Winslow served as Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing from June 2007 to May 2010, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales, POS and Banking with the Company from July 2006 to June 2007, and joined TransAct in May of 2005 as Senior Vice President, Marketing. Prior to joining TransAct, Ms. Winslow was employed with Xerox Corporation where she held the role of Manager, Worldwide Marketing since 2003, and Manager, Sales Operations from 2000 to 2002. She joined Xerox Corporation in 1983.
Brent Richtsmeier was named as Chief Technology Officer in September 2021. Previously, Mr. Richtsmeier served as Senior Vice President, Software Engineering since joining TransAct in December 2019 and was appointed as an officer of the Company in January 2021. Prior to joining TransAct, Mr. Richtsmeier was employed with Samsung, an electronics corporation, from May 2004 until November 2017 as the VP of Development where he was responsible for software strategy, software development at scale and business development. In November 2017, Samsung Electronics sold their business products division to HP Inc, and Mr. Richtsmeier transferred to HP Inc to become the Global Head of Cloud and Mobile Software Solutions until joining TransAct in 2019.
There are no family relationships between any of our executive officers and there is no arrangement or understanding between any of such officers and any other person pursuant to which he or she was selected as an officer. Each of our executive officers was elected by the Board of Directors to hold office until his or her successor is elected and qualified or until his or her earlier resignation or removal.
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