22nd Jan 2009 07:00
Embargoed until 0700 22 January 2009
Ultra Electronics Holdings plc
("Ultra" or "the Group")
APPOINTMENT OF NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Ultra Electronics announces that Sir Robert Walmsley has been appointed to the Board of Ultra as a non-executive director, with immediate effect.
Sir Robert Walmsley served in the Royal Navy where his final appointment, starting in 1994, was as Controller of the Navy and member of the Navy Board as a Vice Admiral. During his naval career he held a number of nuclear-related posts including service as the chairman of the Naval Nuclear Technical Safety Panel and Director General, Submarines. He was knighted in 1995. After retiring from the Navy, he was appointed Chief of Defence Procurement (a Permanent Secretary grade post in the Civil Service), occupying that position from 1996 until 2003.
Sir Robert Walmsley is Chairman of the Board of the Major Projects Association, a non-executive director of Cohort plc and of the General Dynamics Corporation. He is also a senior advisor at Morgan Stanley International plc.
He is a former Director of EDO Corporation (now part of the ITT Corporation) and of the Stratos Global Corporation, now owned by CIP Canada Investment Inc. He is also a non-executive director of British Energy Group plc but will resign in early February when the shares de-list following its recent acquisition.
Dr. Julian Blogh, Chairman, commented:
"I am delighted to welcome Sir Robert onto the Board of Ultra. He brings a wealth of valuable experience in the defence and energy sectors, markets in which the Group is investing for further growth. I am confident that he will make an excellent contribution to Ultra's continuing success."
Note:
The following details relating to Sir Robert Walmsley are disclosed under rule LR9.6.13R of the Listing Rules of the United Kingdom Listing Authority:
Sir Robert Walmsley was appointed to the Board of Directors of British Energy Group plc in August 2003, subsequent to the company's announcement of a proposed restructuring plan in November 2002 and an agreement in principle on the terms of its restructuring with its creditors in February 2003. In October 2003, British Energy Group plc announced that it had finalised an agreement with its creditors as to the terms of the financial restructuring. In January 2005, following shareholder and regulatory approval, the restructuring of British Energy Group plc was completed.
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Enquiries:
Ultra Electronics Holdings plc 020 8813 4321
Dr. Julian Blogh, Chairman www.ultra-electronics.com
Douglas Caster, Chief Executive [email protected]
Weber Shandwick Financial 020 7067 0700
Susan Ellis / James White
Biographical details for Sir Robert Walmsley:
Sir Robert Walmsley, 67, was most recently Chief of Defence Procurement at the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), a post which he held from 1996 until his retirement from public service in 2003. Prior to his MoD appointment, Sir Robert had a distinguished career in the Royal Navy, where he rose to the rank of Vice Admiral in 1994 and served for two years as Controller of the Navy
Robert Walmsley was born in Aberdeen in 1941 and was educated at Fettes College in Edinburgh. He joined the Royal Navy as a Dartmouth Cadet in 1958 and went on to read Mechanical Sciences at Queens' College, Cambridge before taking up a range of seagoing appointments, mainly in submarines, developing an expertise in nuclear propulsion. During his naval career he was at times Chairman of the Naval Nuclear Technical Safety Panel and Director General, Submarines. For three years, he was the Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff for Communications, Command, Control and Information Systems. His final naval appointment (1994) was as Controller of the Navy and member of the Navy Board as a Vice Admiral. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in 1995.
Sir Robert is a former Cambridge Blue, having coxed the light blue boat to victory in the 108th Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race in 1962. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Arts, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), and is an Honorary DSc of Cranfield University.
After retiring from the Navy, he held the position of Chief of Defence Procurement (now Chief of Defence Materiel) at the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) from 1996 until his retirement on 30th April 2003. He retired from Her Majesty's Civil Service after serving longer in the Defence Procurement post than any of his predecessors. During Sir Robert's period in post he led the transformation of the procurement organisation into the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA, now Defence Equipment & Support) and made numerous appearances as a witness to Parliamentary Select Committees.
Further information about Ultra:
Ultra Electronics is an internationally successful defence and aerospace 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 over one hundred distinct market or technology niches within more than twenty businesses. The diversity of niches enables Ultra to contribute to a large number of defence, aerospace and civil 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:
• battlespace IT, summarised as being the systems and equipment that allows coalition commanders to have an integrated, real-time picture of the disposition of friendly and enemy forces that is better than the one available to the enemy. This information superiority underpins rapid decision making which, together with effective command, control and communications, translates into military superiority. The use of battlespace IT is fundamental to the implementation of the military doctrines of 'network-centric warfare' or 'network-enabled capability' that are seen as transformational in the capability to win future battles. Expenditure on battlespace IT equipment therefore continues to represent an increasing share of the total defence budget in the main markets in which Ultra operates.
• sonar systems, expanding Ultra's traditional world-leading airborne anti-submarine warfare capability into broader activities in the underwater battlespace. These include integrated ship and submarine sonar systems, persistent seabed-deployed sensor arrays, torpedo defence and sea mine disposal systems. The fact that over forty countries have, between them, more than four hundred highly capable, stealthy submarines is continuing to focus expenditure in this sector.
• civil and military aircraft equipment, Ultra provides specialist sub-systems and equipment for military and civil aircraft. The main military aircraft programmes on which Ultra equipment is fitted continue to have political support, underpinned by consistent financial commitment. For civil aircraft, record order intake performance by all major aircraft manufacturers underpins increasing build rates for the medium term.
• specialist defence equipment, including power conversion and signature systems for naval ships and submarines. Ultra's specialist capability in high integrity controls for submarine nuclear reactors is included in this sector, for which there is continuing commitment to new platforms and the upgrade of existing boats. Ultra also supplies advanced sub-systems for modern armoured vehicles including those for electrical power management, indirect vision and weapon control. The need for increased mobility and force protection is driving a number of large military vehicle procurements in Ultra's main markets.
• specialist civil systems and equipment, including Ultra's advanced airport IT solutions. Airline passenger growth around the world is driving continuing expansion and upgrade of airport infrastructure. Ultra supplies trackside power equipment for rail transit systems, for which demand continues driven by the need to expand and upgrade rail networks. The UK market for nuclear power generation is expanding and Ultra's offering derived from its equivalent military capability is well positioned to benefit.
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