Minneapolis company Insignia Systems completes sale, changes name to Lendway

Insignia Systems completed the sale of its in-store marketing business to a long-time vendor Friday and can now turn its attention to non-bank lending services.

Insignia Systems, founded in 1990, was a small and occasionally profitable Minneapolis company that provided in-store point-of-sale printing and marketing services for retail companies.

With the marketing business sold, it is changing its name to Lendway Inc. and its ticker symbol to LDWY to better reflect the new business.

"Closing the chapter on our in-store marketing business is not the end, but the beginning of Lendway, ushering in a new journey towards a world of significant non-bank lending possibilities for the company," said Mark Jundt, the new chairman of Lendway.

Annual revenue over the past 10 years averaged $24.4 million, and in half of those years the company lost money. Only once during the decade did revenue exceed $33 million. The company said in its Securities and Exchange Commission filings it is projecting further losses.

The sale of its marketing business came after October 2021, when it announced it was reviewing strategic alternatives. There were more than 80 potential bidders, including strategic and financial buyers.

In the end, the company decided to sell to an affiliate of a long-time vendor, Minneapolis- based Park Printing, for $3.5 million.

Insignia employs about 25 people, and most will make the transition to Park. However, the company's CEO since 2016, Kristine Glancy, will not. The sale triggered a change of control agreement, and she said she will seek other leadership opportunities.

"I had an opportunity to take a position over at Park," Glancy said in an interview this week. "But there was also an opportunity for a couple of my executives that report to me to take on a higher opportunity. And I thought it was a good time to allow them to take that on."

Shareholders also recently approved the reincorporation of the company — from under Minnesota corporate laws to Delaware.

Insignia System was involved in several long antitrust battles with affiliates of News Corp. It ultimately won settlements in those 2011 and 2019 cases; including $20 million when the sides settled the 2019 case in 2022.

The settlement didn't cure any of the underlying business issues. In fact, the business at the center of the latest lawsuit is winding down, and new services that Insignia Systems has been building under Glancy will transfer to Park.