Sarantel: more progress from the antenna firm as it gets General Dynamics order

News that specialist antenna manufacturer Sarantel (LON:SLG) has received production orders for its GeoHelix GPS antenna from General Dynamics Itronix has prompted speculation that the firm’s forthcoming preliminary results for 2011 will show it is making strong progress.

The deal is the third significant order announced by Sarantel to the London Stock Exchange since July.

Commenting on the deal Sarantel’s house broker, Seymour Pierce, said: “It is encouraging to see Sarantel make further progress in the military markets, successfully transitioning a development contract through to a production order in a high profile application with an industry leader. We look forward to the prelim results announcement in late November for further news and detail on the progress that today’s and other recent announcements suggest the company is making.”

Itronix – a subsidiary of US defence giant General Dynamics that specialises in rugged mobile computing – will use GeoHelix in its GD300 rugged wearable computer. According to Sarantel, this wrist or chest worn computer combines the best-in-class commercially available GPS technology with battlefield-rugged computing for “an ultra-thin, lightweight and cost effective computing and situational awareness platform”. 

The device operates like an ultra-sensitive commercial GPS (Global Positional System) unit, or interfaces with tactical radios, for secure network access. 

“Sarantel’s antenna technology is uniquely suited for precision, body-worn applications that have to operate in the most challenging environments,” said David Wither, Sarantel’s chief executive officer. “We are very pleased that General Dynamics Itronix has selected our technology for the GD300 Rugged Wearable Computer. This highlights our growing traction in military applications where precision, reliability and small size are critically important." 

Sarantel is a specialist in the design of high-performance miniature antennas for portable wireless applications. These ceramic filtering antennas are designed to deliver improved performance over existing antenna designs, resulting in a clear signal, better range and 90-per cent reduction in the amount of signal radiation that is absorbed by the human body.

This latest news of orders comes after the firm received production orders from a leading European electronics company at the start of September for its SL1206 GPS antenna. The SL1206 GPS antenna will form part of a compact radio system that is embedded inside body armour that has been designed for soldiers.

At the end of July, the firm reported that it had received production orders for its GeoHelix antenna for use in the US military’s Rifleman radio. It is believed that the US Department of Defense plans to purchase more than 190,000 of these radios for the US Army and Sarantel’s board reckons that, at such levels, this contract would generate in excess of US$6 million for the company.

In its interim results released in May, Sarantel reported that revenues during the six months to March 31 amounted to £1 million (H1 2010: £1.4 million).

At 10:48am this morning, Sarantel’s share price was down 2.4 per cent at 0.6 pence each.