10 Apr 12. Cobham, the UK aerospace and defence group, unveiled a formal £270m offer for Thrane & Thrane on Tuesday, one month after it had withdrawn a proposal to buy the Danish satellite telecommunications equipment maker for the same sum. The offer consists of DKK420 per share and follows the acquisition by Cobham of a further 22.7 per cent stake in Thrane & Thrane in recent weeks. Cobham’s previous proposal to buy the company was withdrawn in March. The British group said it had pulled out because it had been unable to secure a recommendation for a bid from the Thrane & Thrane board. Subsequently, however, Cobham bought the tranche of additional Thrane & Thrane shares from Jupiter Asset Management and other institutional investors, taking its holding to 25.6 per cent. Thrane & Thrane – which is conducting a strategic review of its business in response to the bid interest – also changed its chairman late last month. Tuesday’s announcement formalised the resumption of Cobham’s interest in a takeover. Cobham said the offer represented a 43 per cent premium to the price at which Thrane & Thrane shares were trading before the announcement in February that the Danish company had been approached by a suitor. The price represented a multiple of 14.8 times Thrane & Thrane’s annual operating profit, Cobham added. John Devaney, Cobham executive chairman, said the company was willing to transfer the management of the two businesses’ combined maritime satellite communications business to Denmark if a deal went through. “It would be our intention to invest further in Denmark,” he said.Thrane & Thrane had sales of DKK1.1bn and made a pre-tax profit of DKK169m in the year to January 31. Cobham said it expected it would cover its cost of capital in the third full year of ownership. (Source: FT.com)
09 Apr 12. Russian Helicopters, JSC announced its consolidated operating and audited financial results for the year ended 31 December 2011 under IFRS.
* Helicopter deliveries increased by 22.4% and reached 262 units;
* Firm backlog doubled and totalled 859 helicopters as of December 31, 2011;
* Revenue grew by 27.8%1 to RUB 103.9bn;
* EBITDA2 surged 31.7%1 to RUB 18.0bn, representing a solid EBITDA margin of 17.3%;
* Profit was up 12.7%1 and totaled RUB 7.0bn.
Dmitry Petrov, CEO of Russian Helicopters, commented: “I am delighted to report such strong results for 2011 – a clear demonstration of our ability to achieve our targets and to deliver on our commitments to our stakeholders.
“The Company maintains solid growth momentum and continues to develop. During the year, we consolidated our position as one of the leading players in the global helicopter industry. We increased deliveries by 22.4% to 262 helicopters to our customers from 19 countries, which allowed us to achieve a market share of 14% of the world’s helicopter market in money terms. Moreover, we succeeded in doubling Company’s firm backlog, which reached 859 helicopters with a value in excess of RUB 330bn by year-end.
11 Apr 12. Thales has reached an agreement on the sale of its fixed-wing civil simulation and aircrew training activities to L-3 Communications. The transaction would include the civil fixed-wing simulation activities in Crawley, UK, and its flight simulation training centre located in Bangkok, Thailand. Thales will continue to develop its military system capabilities which will remain part of its key product portfolio. However Thales feels that L-3 Communications Link Simulation and Training UK Ltd will be better placed to maximise the potential of the civil simulation business. This divestment allows Thales to streamline its business portfolio while securing the future of its core activities. Thales’s civil fixed-wing flight simulation business is a global producer of high-end simulation equipment for major airlines and aircraft OEMs worldwide. The fixed-wing civil simulation business has approximately 400 employees and generated revenues of €97m in 201