Acquisition

22nd Feb 2006 07:01

Judges Capital PLC22 February 2006 FURTHER EXPANSION OF JUDGES CAPITAL VIA ACQUISITION OF UHV DESIGN 22 FEBRUARY 2006 Judges Capital plc ("Judges"), a holding group for companies that specialise inthe design and manufacture of scientific instruments, announces that it hastoday completed the acquisition of 100% of the shares in UHV Design Limited ("UHV"). UHV, based in Laughton, East Sussex, designs and manufactures instruments usedto manipulate objects in Ultra High Vacuum chambers (where the pressure isseveral trillion times less than the atmosphere). The business of UHV wasfounded in 1993 by Paul and Lynne Stonestreet, each of whom owned 50% of theequity. UHV's unaudited accounts for the year ended 31 March 2005 show sales of£954,000, pre-tax profits of £296,000 and net tangible assets of £120,000. The initial consideration paid for UHV by Judges, which also owns Fire TestingTechnology and a controlling shareholding in PE fiberoptics, was £650,000 incash plus 98,522 ordinary shares in Judges. An additional payment will be madeto reflect the working capital available at completion in excess of thetwelve-month average. A maximum earn-out of £86,000 will be payable to thevendors based on UHV achieving certain EBIT targets for the years ending 31March 2006 and 31 March 2007. The initial cash consideration was financed by anextension of Judges' senior loan from Bank of Scotland. Paul Stonestreet will remain Managing Director of UHV for up to one year andwill subsequently become Chief Technology Officer for up to two years fromcompletion. Alex Hambro, Chairman of Judges, commented: "I am delighted that we havecompleted our third acquisition in the scientific instrument sector within ninemonths of the Company's strategic entrance into this specialist area. UHV is anexcellent company and we are confident that this acquisition will serve tosignificantly enhance earnings with immediate effect." For further information please contact: David Cicurel, Chief Executive, Judges Capital: Tel: 07771 893 080 Alex Borrelli, Shore Capital & Corporate: Tel: 020 7408 4090 Melvyn Marckus, Cardew Group: Tel: 020 7930 0777 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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Judges Scientific