The Cursor Controls Group, a designer and maker of human-to-machine interface products has been acquired by discoverIE Group PLC (LON:DSCV), the customised electronics products maker.
DiscoverIE is paying £19mln upfront in cash and a further payment of up to £4mln could be paid, depending on how the acquired business performs over the next three years.
READ: Customised electronics maker discoverIE enjoys strong first half
The acquisition is expected to provide an immediate boost to discoverIE’s underlying earnings and underlying operating margin.
Cursor Control's products, which comprise trackballs, touchpads and ruggedised keyboards, are custom designed for specific applications and are highly complementary to discoverIE's existing business.
Cursor Controls’ revenues for 2017 were £7.9mln. It made a reported pre-tax profit of £0.3mln, an underlying operating profit of £2.1mln and had an underlying operating margin of 26%.
Gross assets at the end of 2017 were £9.9mln on a reported basis.
"The acquisition of Cursor Controls continues our strategy of building a differentiated, international, growth-focused electronics group with higher operating margins,2 said Nick Jefferies, the chief executive of discoverIE.
“Cursor Controls has a well-established track record of supplying high-quality trackballs, trackpads and rugged keyboards internationally and into growth markets. They will gain access to our wider base of customers and with it, new sales opportunities,” he added.
Shares in discoverIE were unchanged in the first hour of trading.