-- ADDS BROKER COMMENT AND DETAIL --
Trakm8 (LON:TRAK) has acquired vehicle camera specialist DCS solutions for £3.3mln.
The black box provider for car insurance company Direct Line is adding dashboard cameras to its expanding portfolio of car security gadgets.
The company said: “Cameras are being increasingly used in a wide range of applications, including a significant demand for forward facing vehicle cameras to record driving incidents and to mitigate the risk from 'crash for cash' accidents.”
DCS trades under three main brands: RoadHawk, its dashboard camera, Dogcam, its helmet camera, and Lawmate, its line of digital surveillance equipment .
John Watkins, executive chairman of Trakm8 said: "We are primarily interested in cameras to go into motor vehicles."
He said the cameras will not only protect drivers from false claims, but will also make the people better drivers.
In the year to 30 April 2015, DCS reported revenues of £2.8mln and pre-tax profit of £0.6mln and TrakM8 said the acquisition is expected to immediately enhance earnings.
Watkins, said: “The acquisition reflects the growing demand from our fleet and insurance customers for camera applications.
“We plan to deepen the integration of the camera technology into our telematics solutions for both our fleet and insurance clients.”
Broker Finncap said: "Following the acquisition, we increase our FY March 2016 sales and earnings forecasts and raise our target price to 185p."
The company also announced today that former Halfords and Andrew Page boss Bill Duffy has joined the board as a non-executive director.
Shares gained 2.25p or 1.5% to 155.25p today on the news.