21 May 12. BMT Group Ltd, the international design, engineering and risk management consultancy, announced today that it has achieved robust financial results, despite another year of challenging economic conditions across much of the world. Revenues from continuing businesses rose 8% to £127m and underlying operating profits remained unchanged at £6.5m in the year to 30 September 2011, £5.1m of which has been distributed to the staff through the company’s profit share schemes. Comprising 21 subsidiary companies, the BMT group has successfully focused on its core maritime offering in the organisation’s three sectors of defence, energy & environment and transport. Highlights included the acquisition of JFA Consultants, a port and harbour engineering specialist based in Western Australia; successful contract win for the Royal Navy’s Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) Tanker programme; delivery of Environmental and Facilities Monitoring Systems (EFMS) for two of Chevron’s new platforms scheduled for the Gulf of Mexico and the completion of a strategic master plan, covering the economic, technical and financial aspects for optimising the development of Weifang Port, located in the Shandong Province, East China. BMT has also opened new offices in Indonesia and Kazakhstan to support and grow the organisation’s core businesses located in these regions and acquired a minority stake in Brazilian company, Navegação e Controle Ltda (Navcon), providing further access to offshore oil and gas opportunities in the Santos Basin, off the coast of Brazil.
24 May 12. Advanced Circuits announced the acquisition of Universal Circuits based in Maple Grove, MN. With this acquisition and previous acquisitions, Advanced Circuits, an industry innovator for many years in the commercial PCB arena, continues to strengthen its position as a leader in the high-reliability, military/aerospace/defense, and high technology marketplace. The acquisition will enable Advanced Circuits and Universal Circuits to further refine their core competencies and immediately begin offering expanded services to their customer bases. Universal Circuits brings to Advanced Circuits a successful track record of over 40 years supplying PCBs to all major military, aerospace, and medical original equipment manufacturers and contract manufacturers. UCI’s Minnesota facility meets certain Department of Defense clearance requirements and is noted for custom and advanced technologies that include a wide range of copper thicknesses and the capability to deal with conformal shapes and unique materials as well as large formats. Advanced Circuits has experienced record growth and is reporting a strong start for 2012. This acquisition follows recent acquisitions of Circuit Board Express in May of 2009 and Circuit Express in March of 2010. By offering Universal Circuits customers access to Advanced Circuits’ higher-volume production capabilities, its innovative online quoting and ordering procedures, plus exclusive FreeDFM and PCB Artist services, UCI achieves an immediate opportunity for revenue growth potential.
(Source: Yahoo!/BUSINESS WIRE)
23 May 12. Value of WFEL takeover by KMW (See: BATTLESPACE ALERT Vol.14 ISSUE 08, 23 May 2012, WFEL SET FOR GLOBAL GROWTH FOLLOWING ACQUISITION BY KMW). No mention of a sale price was reported in the WFEL/Dunedin Releases, however the Times reported that Dunedin invested a reported £21m in the business which was acquired from the management in 2006 for £48m, thus given a 2.5x value, the sale price is estimated at £115m. (Source: The Times)
24 May 12. Carl Zeiss Presents Positive Half-yearly Figures. Broad portfolio largely compensates for cyclical fluctuations in Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology group
– Revenue at same level as prior year
– EBIT at EUR 232m
– Major investments in modernization of the company
– Investments in research and development increased by 10 percent
– Optimistic outlook for second half of fisc