MIAMI and ST. CHARLES, Ill., Oct. 21, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HEICO Corporation (NYSE:HEI-A) (NYSE:HEI) today announced that its Electronic Technologies Group has acquired the business, assets and certain liabilities of the Seacom division of privately-held Dukane Corp.
Terms were not disclosed. HEICO stated that it expects the acquisition to be accretive to its earnings per share during the year following closing.
Seacom is the world's largest designer and manufacturer of Underwater Locator Beacons ("ULBs") used to locate aircraft Cockpit Voice Recorders and Flight Data Recorders, marine ship Voyage Recorders and various other devices which have been submerged under water. Seacom, which was founded in 1969, is based in St. Charles, IL and employs approximately 35 people.
HEICO has renamed the business "Dukane Seacom, Inc." and anticipates that the operation will remain in its current location in St. Charles, IL for now. HEICO said that Dukane Seacom's management will remain with the business in their pre-acquisition roles and that it does not expect other near-term staff turnover to result from the acquisition.
ULBs are required equipment on all U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ("FAA") and European Aviation Safety Agency ("EASA") approved Flight Data and Cockpit Voice Recorders used in aircraft and on similar systems utilized on large marine shipping vessels. Dukane Seacom's ULBs installed on aircraft have all been approved by the FAA and EASA following comprehensive tests to ensure the devices meet stringent FAA and EASA requirements.
Frequently called "pingers," ULBs are highly-engineered electronic devices which, when activated by contact with water, emit an acoustic signal allowing equipment specially designed by Dukane Seacom and others to locate the ULBs, which are themselves attached to other systems or objects, like the recorders popularly known as "black boxes" installed on aircraft or large marine vessels.
Laurans A. Mendelson, HEICO's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We are thrilled to add this business to our product offerings of flight and voyage critical products, as it is a perfect fit with our electronics and aviation expertise." He added, "We welcome Dukane Seacom's highly trained and uniquely competent staff led by Dukane Seacom President Thomas Greenacre to the HEICO family."
There are currently approximately 15.7 million shares of HEICO's Class A Common Stock (HEI.A) outstanding and 10.4 million shares of HEICO's Common Stock (HEI) outstanding. The stock symbols for HEICO's two classes of common stock on most web sites are HEI.A and HEI. However, some web sites change HEICO's Class A Common Stock stock symbol (HEI.A) to HEI/A or HEIa.
HEICO Corporation is engaged primarily in certain niche segments of the aviation, defense, space and electronics industries through its Hollywood, FL-based HEICO Aerospace Holdings Corp. subsidiary and its Miami, FL-based HEICO Electronic Technologies Corp. subsidiary. HEICO's customers include a majority of the world's airlines and airmotives as well as numerous defense and space contractors and military agencies worldwide in addition to medical, telecommunication and electronic equipment manufacturers. For more information about HEICO, please visit our web site at http://www.heico.com.
Certain statements in this press release constitute forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks, uncertainties and contingencies. HEICO's actual results may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by those forward-looking statements as a result of factors including, but not limited to: lower demand for commercial air travel or airline fleet changes, which could cause lower demand for our goods and services; product specification costs and requirements, which could cause an increase to our costs to complete contracts; governmental and regulatory demands, export policies and restrictions, reductions in defense, space or homeland security spending by U.S. and/or foreign customers or competition from existing and new competitors, which could reduce our sales; HEICO's ability to introduce new products and product pricing levels, which could reduce our sales or sales growth; HEICO's ability to make acquisitions and achieve operating synergies from acquired businesses, customer credit risk, interest rates and economic conditions within and outside of the aviation, defense, space and electronics industries, which could negatively impact our costs and revenues; and HEICO's ability to maintain effective internal controls, which could adversely affect our business and the market price of our common stock. Parties receiving this material are encouraged to review all of HEICO's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to filings on Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.