Gemplus, the French smartcard manufacturer, has been forced to stall its €425m ($376.9m) IPO in Paris and on Nasdaq again, after a last minute glitch in the registration of the shares with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US.

This is the second time that Gemplus has been forced to temporarily delay its IPO - and the third time this year that a French smartcard manufacturer has run into technical difficulties in the new issue market.