BUSINESS NEWS
16 Sep 09. DRS Technologies, Inc., announced today it has successfully completed its acquisition of Soneticom, Inc., a Melbourne, Florida based company that provides precision geolocation systems, wireless communications protocols, and digital signal processing. Mark S. Newman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of DRS Technologies, stated, “I am excited to welcome Soneticom into the DRS family of companies. Its expertise in applications development and product engineering will strongly complement our current line of communications solutions. This new addition will also expand the capabilities that we currently offer our military customers and will contribute to our future growth in the intelligence systems business.” Tim Reynolds, President and CEO of Soneticom, Inc. added that “Being part of DRS will give Soneticom the ability to access new markets while offering our existing government and commercial customers additional products, services and solutions necessary to ensure successful communication through all stages of their mission.” Soneticom will immediately join DRS’ Defense Solutions Group, a leading provider of ISR, training, unmanned systems, sonar systems and nuclear control products. They will remain based in Melbourne, Florida, where DRS has additional facilities and a sizeable workforce. “Adding Soneticom’s products and services to our intelligence systems business is a significant benefit for our customers involved in communications intelligence (COMINT) and electronic warfare (EW),” said Richard Danforth, President of the DRS Defense Solutions Group. “I am very pleased to welcome this talented workforce to our group.
19 Sep 09. Babcock International Group PLC (Babcock), the engineering support services company, today announces it has agreed to acquire UKAEA Ltd (UKAEA) from the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority for a cash consideration of £50m. UKAEA will have cash balances of approximately £12m on completion. The transaction will complete when customary approvals are obtained. The UKAEA has a world class reputation in the nuclear market place with over 50 years’ experience in nuclear site management, operations and decommissioning and established advisory roles with a number of government organisations in both the UK and overseas. It provides a wide range of services including programme management, decommissioning, waste management, environmental services and technical consulting. Babcock already has one of the largest specialist nuclear services resources in the UK with well established positions in both the civil and military nuclear operational support and decommissioning markets. This acquisition provides Babcock with its first operational Tier 1 position in the civil nuclear market and a direct relationship with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, complementing its existing Tier 1 position in the military nuclear market. The acquisition represents a significant extension to Babcock’s existing nuclear skills by bringing proven capabilities in waste categorisation, decommissioning of high hazard facilities, encapsulation and storage of hazardous materials and transportation of waste, which are applicable to both the civil and military sectors. In the financial year ended 31March 2009, UKAEA generated revenue of £32m. The financial results of UKAEA will be reported as part of the Nuclear division.
10 Sep 09. ITT still on course to take on markets. US high-tech engineering and manufacturing group ITT Corporation has reiterated that it is “aggressively pursuing” the international market, although its domestic arena remains one of opportunity for the group. Speaking to Jane’s on 8 September during the 2009 Defence Systems & Equipment International (DSEi) exhibition in London, Major General (Retired) Bruce Scott, ITT’s Defense International Vice President and Director for International Marketing and Business Development, said: “We never really pursued the international market pr