26th Oct 2005 07:01
Laird Group PLC26 October 2005 LAIRD ANNOUNCES FURTHER EXPANSION IN THERMAL PRODUCTS AND SOLUTIONS The Laird Group PLC ("Laird") announces today the acquisition of MelcorCorporation and its Chinese subsidiary Melcor Hua Yua ("Melcor") from FeddersCorporation for a total cash consideration of $17.4 million (£9.85 million) plus$2.6 million (£1.5 million) for the purchase of a third-party minority interestin Melcor's Chinese joint venture, of which $0.65 million (£0.4 million) ispayable to key management personnel after two years subject to the continuedretention of such personnel. Melcor provides advanced thermal management solutions to a wide variety of enduse markets. It is a leading manufacturer and supplier of thermoelectric modulesand cooling systems for aerospace, medical and specialist industrialapplications. Melcor designs and manufactures its products from facilities inNew Jersey, United States and in Quanzhou, China. In the year ended 31 December, 2004, Melcor reported revenues of $13.5 million(£7.6 million) and operating profits of $2.3 million (£1.3 million). The business and its management will be integrated into Laird Technologies'growing thermal management business and will benefit from Laird's greaterproduct development and application engineering resources, customer presence andglobal reach. Laird's thermal management business complements its existingglobal market-leading positions in electromagnetic interference ("EMI")shielding and cellular wireless antennae products and solutions. The acquisition of Melcor follows two successful acquisitions in the last twelvemonths in Laird Technologies. In January 2005 we acquired Cateron Corporation,the global leader in the design and supply of EMI shielding to the PC notebookmarket. In October 2004 we acquired Centurion Wireless Technologies, the globalleader in the design and supply of cellular handset antennae, and which hasrecently shipped its one billionth cellular antennae. Commenting on the transaction, Peter Hill, Chief Executive of Laird, said: "Melcor represents a further step in our strategy of establishing leadingpositions and key technologies in our core markets where we see opportunitiesfor growth. The acquisition provides us with additional technology from which todevelop the next generation of thermal management products, so as to provide ourcustomers with the solutions they require as thermal issues in systems anddevices become increasingly important." For enquiries: The Laird Group PLC The Maitland Consultancy Peter Hill, Chief Executive Brian Hudspith Jonathan Silver, Finance Charlotte Barker Director Tel: 020 7468 4040 Tel: 020 7379 5151 The Laird Group: Laird is a leading global electronics and security systems group employing some9,000 people in operations in North America, Europe and across Asia. Laird Technologies is the global market leader in the design and supply ofelectromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, thermal interface products andwireless antennae solutions for all sectors of the electronics industry,including telecommunications, data transfer and information technology, as wellas to the automotive, aerospace and defence, consumer electronics, medical andindustrial markets. Its products, often co-designed in conjunction withcustomers, are critical in protecting or enhancing the performance of electronicdevices. Melcor: Melcor was founded in 1959 and has been at the forefront of the development andmanufacture of thermoelectric coolers. The business operates from a facility inNew Jersey, United States and through its subsidiary MHY in Quanzhou, China andemploys some 300 people. The business was acquired by Fedders Corporation, aleading supplier of air conditioning units for residential and officeenvironments, in 1995. As part of the transaction, all minority shareholderinterests in the Chinese subsidiary, MHY, have been acquired. Thermoelectric coolers: A thermoelectric module is a small solid state device that can operate as a heatpump or as an electrical power generator. When used as a heat pump the moduleutilises a physical property of the thermoelectric materials called the Peltiereffect to move heat and is called a thermoelectric cooler (TEC). Melcor is aworld leader in TEC technology and manufacturing. In the Peltier effect, when electric current passes through the junction of twodifferent types of conductors it results in a temperature change. However, thepractical application of this concept required the development of semiconductorsthat are good conductors of electricity but poor conductors of heat - theperfect balance for TEC performance. Today, bismuth telluride is primarily usedas the semiconductor material, heavily doped to create either an excess (n-type)or a deficiency (p-type) of electrons. A TEC consists of a number of p- and n-type semiconductor pairs (couples)connected electrically in series and sandwiched between two ceramic plates. Whenconnected to a DC power source, current causes heat to move from one side of theTEC to the other. Naturally, this creates a hot side and a cold side on the TEC.A typical application exposes the cold side of the TEC to the object orsubstance to be cooled and the hot side to a heat sink which dissipates the heatto the environment. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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