Acquisition

For immediate release 28 October 2013

Ultra Electronics Holdings plc

("Ultra" or "the Group")

Ultra acquires specialist wireless products and services company

Ultra announces that it has acquired W&D Holdings Limited ("W&D") for an initial cash consideration of £6m. Additional payments of up to £1m will be made subject to earnings growth over the next year. Ultra has acquired W&D from its owner management team.

W&D is based near Basingstoke, UK. The company has a 30 year track record of delivering OEM and bespoke wireless products and services, such as radio networks, video monitoring and wireless data platforms, to industry and governments. Its reputation has been built on creating innovative solutions that deliver the highest levels of reliability and functionality. W&D partners with its customers to deliver high quality wireless solutions between people, machines and devices.

W&D customers are diverse but predominately active in the defence, homeland security, transportation, energy, emergency services, exploration, healthcare, and utilities sectors. Over 50% of its revenue comes from export markets with customers in more than 30 countries worldwide. Earlier this year W&D received a Queen's Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category in recognition of their performance in the export market.

The acquisition of W&D will be financed using Ultra's existing facilities and is expected to be earnings enhancing in 2014. W&D will continue to operate from its existing facilities as a bolt-in acquisition to Ultra's Communication & Integrated Systems (CIS) business within Ultra's Tactical Systems Division. All of W&D's management team, including the founder Alan Wood, will stay with the business.

Rakesh Sharma, Chief Executive of Ultra, commented:

"I am pleased that we have been able to bring W&D into the Group as a part of CIS. This acquisition supports Ultra's strategy of extending its capabilities in the communications sector. W&D's technologies and broad geographic reach complement CIS's existing capabilities and will support planned growth in international markets."

- Ends -

Enquiries:

Rakesh Sharma, Chief Executive 020 8813 4307

Mary Waldner, Group Finance Director

Susan Ellis, Corporate Affairs Adviser 07836 522 722

James White, MHP Communications 020 3128 8756

www.ultra-electronics.com 

Further information about Ultra:

Ultra Electronics is an internationally successful defence, security, transport and energy company with a long, consistent track record of development and growth. Ultra businesses constantly innovate to create solutions to customer requirements that are different from and better than those of the Group's competitors. The Group has about one hundred and eighty distinct market or technology niches within its twenty eight businesses. The diversity of niches enables Ultra to contribute to a large number of platforms and programmes and provides resilience to the Group's financial performance.

Ultra has world-leading positions in many of its niches and, as an independent, non-threatening partner, is able to support all of the main prime contractors with specialist capabilities and solutions. As a result of such positioning, Ultra's systems, equipment or services are often mission-critical to the successful operation of the platform to which they contribute. In turn, this mission-criticality secures Ultra's positions for the long term which underpin the superior financial performance of the Group.

Ultra offers support to its customers through the design, delivery and support phases of a programme. Ultra businesses have a high degree of operational autonomy where the local management teams are empowered to devise and implement competitive strategies that reflect their expertise in their specific niches. The Group has a small head office and executive team that provide to the individual businesses the same agile, responsive support that they provide to customers as well as formulating Ultra's overarching, corporate strategy.

Across the Group's three divisions, the major market sectors in which Ultra operates are:

Defence: Ultra supplies advanced electronic and electrical systems and equipment to coalition defence forces around the world. The Group innovates to provide specialist capabilities that are superior to those available to the enemy. By focusing on delivering comparative military advantage, Ultra can gain market share and exploit the headroom for growth that is available in defence budgets worldwide.

Security and cyber: Ultra provides highly differentiated systems and capabilities to the broad security, intelligence and cyber market. Driven by the actions of rogue states, terrorist groups and organised crime, governments worldwide are focusing expenditure preferentially on addressing these threats. Ultra has highly specialised capabilities in secure communications, networks and high grade cryptographic equipment, key management systems and surveillance and intelligence gathering systems.

Transport: Ultra provides specialist software, systems and equipment for use in mass passenger transport systems. This includes high integrity real-time controls for civil aircraft, advanced IT solutions for modern airports and trackside power equipment for transit rail systems. Demand in all areas is driven by rising populations in affluent and developing regions of the world.

Energy: Countries around the world are addressing the strategic need to have secure access to increasing amounts of low carbon energy. Ultra has a range of safety critical sensors and controls used in existing and new build nuclear reactors. The Group has innovative portable energy sources powered by readily available propane gas. Ultra also has specialist sensors, derived from defence applications, which are highly effective in the underwater environment at hydrocarbon mapping.