11th Feb 2008 07:01
Laird Group PLC11 February 2008 11 February 2008 LAIRD FOCUSES ON EXCITING M2M MARKET The Laird Group PLC ("Laird") announces today the acquisition of Ezurio Limited("Ezurio"), a privately held business for a cash consideration of £12.5 millionon a debt free basis. Ezurio is a supplier of Bluetooth, 802.11 and embedded RF modules and Machine toMachine ("M2M") solutions for wireless data communication applications inRetail, Automotive, Healthcare and many other market sectors. Ezurio's Bluetoothmodules have a leading market position in the wireless electronic point of sale(EPOS) market. Ezurio's M2M solution is a fully configurable bespoke solution which provides acomplete end to end solution for wireless data communications from RF modulesembedded in remote assets through to secure data bases. M2M solutions providecustomers with the ability to monitor manage and control their assets andbusiness, with the benefit of lower costs and increased added value. In the 12 months to 31 December, 2007, Ezurio's revenues were £4.0 million, anincrease of 24% over the same period in 2006, and in the last quarter moved intoa breakeven position. Revenues are expected to increase by over 50% in 2008. Ezurio will become an integral part of Laird Technologies' Wireless Systemsbusiness which was formed by the acquisition of AeroComm in 2007. Theacquisition of Ezurio allows Laird Technologies to offer a wider range of RFmodules for different applications and complete end to end M2M solutions, toaddress fast growing market sectors such as Telematics, Asset Management,Healthcare, Security and EPOS. Peter Hill, Chief Executive of Laird commented: "M2M solutions create exciting possibilities for our customers in the way theycarry out their business. At present, M2M solutions handle millions oftransmissions each day, but that will increase significantly as customersrecognise the benefits of remote monitoring, data security and control ofassets. Laird Technologies' global reach and "Air to the Board" strategy willsupport its growing presence in this fast growing market." For enquiries: The Laird Group PLC Maitland Peter Hill, Chief Executive Brian Hudspith Jonathan Silver, Finance Director Charlotte Walsh Tel: 020 7468 4040 Tel: 020 7379 5151 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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