Acquisition

RNS Number : 4174S

Digital Barriers plc

21 November 2011

 



21 November 2011

Digital Barriers plc

("Digital Barriers" or the "Group")

Acquisition of Stryker Communications Limited

Digital Barriers plc (AIM: DGB), the specialist provider of advanced surveillance technologies to the homeland security and defence sectors, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Stryker Communications Limited ("Stryker") (the "Acquisition").

Founded in 2004 and based in Surbiton, UK, Stryker designs and develops covert and overt wireless video surveillance products to protect high-profile assets and to provide law-enforcement agencies with real-time situational awareness in areas where wired connections are either impractical or uneconomic. Stryker's video surveillance products are designed to be easily and readily deployable and incorporate technologies that meet a broad range of specific customer requirements, including digital video recording and automatic number plate recognition. 

Stryker operates primarily in the UK, serving both the commercial and public sectors.  Its customers include Local Authorities, Police, Intelligence and Other Government Agencies, transportation, ports and airports and corporate commercial and high risk installations.  Stryker has also delivered notable sales in the USA, including a wireless surveillance system on the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City.

Rationale for the Acquisition

The board of directors of Digital Barriers (the "Board") believes that Stryker's core strength lies in its product engineering capability.  By combining Stryker's current product set and its product design expertise with Digital Barriers' existing assets and technologies, the Board believes it will be able to further advance its development of a range of leading-edge video surveillance solutions.  Bringing such solutions to market would allow Digital Barriers to meet the increasing demand from its security and defence customers for rapidly deployable, "out of the box" surveillance products.

Terms of the Acquisition

Under the terms of the Acquisition, Digital Barriers will acquire the entire issued share capital of Stryker for an initial consideration of £750,000, payable to the vendors of Stryker in cash upon completion of the Acquisition.

Dependent upon the successful satisfaction by Stryker of certain financial and operational targets in the period from completion of the Acquisition to 30 September 2012, deferred consideration of a further £750,000 in cash may be paid by Digital Barriers.

Financial information

Stryker's latest unaudited accounts for the financial year ended 30 April 2011 reported turnover of £1.03 million with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £0.08 million. As at 30 April 2011, Stryker had net assets of £0.16 million.

Colin Evans, Managing Director of Digital Barriers commented:

"Stryker brings an impressive range of surveillance products and, importantly, a sophisticated product engineering capability to our Group.  Harnessing this capability will allow Digital Barriers to draw on the strengths of its entire IP portfolio and develop a range of leading-edge, readily deployable products.  This is increasingly the type of solution our customers need and demand.  We look forward to working with the Stryker team in meeting that demand."

Dave Oliver, Managing Director of Stryker added:

"Digital Barriers has moved quickly in the last eighteen months to become an exciting, innovative player in the advanced surveillance sector. We believe that the combination of our products and engineering capabilities with the Digital Barriers IP and sales platform represents a great opportunity for both our teams to capitalise on the ever changing, increasingly sophisticated demands of the homeland security marketplace."

For further information please contact:

Digital Barriers plc	[phone]
Tom Black, Executive Chairman
Colin Evans, Managing Director
Investec Investment Banking	[phone]
Andrew Pinder / Dominic Emery
FTI Consulting	[phone]
Edward Bridges / Matt Dixon / Elodie Castagna

About Digital Barriers

Digital Barriers provides advanced surveillance technologies to the international homeland security and defence markets. Specialising in 'edge-intelligent' solutions that can be deployed across remote, hostile or complex operating environments, we work with governments, multinational corporations and system integrators in the defence, law enforcement, critical infrastructure, transportation and natural resources sectors.

www.digitalbarriers.com  

Disclaimer

This announcement includes statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements".  These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms "believes", "estimates", "plans", "projects", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "may", "will", or "should" or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology.  These forward-looking statements include matters that are not historical facts.  They appear in a number of places throughout this announcement and include statements regarding the Group's current intentions, beliefs or expectations concerning, among other things, the Group's results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth, strategies and the Group's markets.  By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances.  Actual results and developments could differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.  Forward-looking statements may and often do differ materially from actual results.  Any forward-looking statements in this announcement are based on certain factors and assumptions, including the Group's current view with respect to future events and are subject to risks relating to future events and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to the Group's operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity.  Whilst the Group considers these assumptions to be reasonable based upon information currently available, they may prove to be incorrect.  Save as required by law or by the AIM Rules for Companies, the Group undertakes no obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to any forward-looking statements in this announcement that may occur due to any change in the Group's expectations or to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this announcement.

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