2 April 2015

Solid State plc

("Solid State", the "Group" or the "Company")

Trading Update and Acquisition

Solid State plc (AIM: SOLI), the AIM listed supplier of specialist industrial/ruggedised computers, electronic components, secure communications systems and battery power solutions to the electronics market, is pleased to announce an acquisition and a trading update.

Trading Update

The results for the year ended 31 March 2015 will, as anticipated, be significantly better than last year. Profit before taxation for the year ended 31 March is expected to be at least in line with market expectations although revenue is expected to be slightly lower principally due to exiting certain low margin, high volume business in the LED market during the year.

The Directors are confident that further progress and growth will be achieved in the current financial year.  The current financial year commences with an open order book of £18.5m (30 April 2014: £14.7m) and an encouraging level of enquiries. In addition and as expected, the year will also benefit from the first material contributions from the three year contract with the Ministry of Justice, awarded last year, to supply monitoring hardware for GPS offender tagging.

Acquisition

The Company has acquired the entire issued share capital of Signregion Limited for a cash consideration of £2.125 million, subject to an adjustment of net asset value once completion accounts have been finalised. £1.6 million of the cash consideration will be paid on completion from the Company's existing bank facilities with a further £525,000 payable in three equal six monthly tranches.

Signregion Limited is the holding company for Ginsbury Electronics Limited ("Ginsbury"). Ginsbury specialises in the supply of high quality display components, monitors, panels, signage and power components to the commercial, retail, industrial and military markets throughout the UK and Europe.

For the 12 months to 31 December 2014, Ginsbury generated unaudited profits before interest and tax of £461,000 on turnover of £3.9 million. As at 31 December 2014 it had unaudited net assets of approximately £1.7 million, of which £1.044m was cash and £383,000 was tangible assets. The Directors expect that Ginsbury will make a positive contribution to the performance of the Group as a whole in the year ending 31 March 2016.

Commenting on the acquisition Gary Marsh, Chief Executive of Solid State, said:

"We are delighted to have acquired Ginsbury and to welcome it to the Group. The Ginsbury business will supplement and enhance our offering in the display area which will further extend the ruggedised solutions that we are able to offer our client base. It will additionally allow us to more effectively develop our range of higher unit cost products and create further opportunities for value added services in the distribution division."

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Notes to Editors:

Solid State plc (SOLI) is a leading value added group of companies providing specialist design-in and manufacturing services to those acquiring industrial/rugged computing products, battery power solutions, secure communications systems and electronic components for use in harsh environments. 

Serving niche markets in oil & gas production, medical, construction, security, military and field maintenance, Solid State acts as both a distributor to OEMs and bespoke manufacturer of specialist units to clients with complex requirements.

Headquartered in Redditch, Solid State employs over 150 staff across five sites.  Solid State operates through two main divisions: Solid State Supplies and Steatite.

Solid State was established in 1971 and admitted to AIM in June 1996.