Cyfas Systems Ltd has been acquired by Unlisted Securities Market counter Sunleigh Electronics Plc for UKP1.4m and at the same time established a joint agreement with Marconi Mobile Radio to co-develop and co-market radio telephone equipment. Sunleigh, which has moved into the Cyfas buildings at Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, makes control systems for radio communications and competes with Philips’ Pye unit in the UK market. Its systems handle traffic to and from vehicles and communications control centres as well as operator and computer-controlled devices. The company was previously owned by Burndebt Electronics, a management company owned by FKI, which according to managing director of Cyfas Ian Drewitt understood neither its strategy nor its products. It’s a market of peaks and troughs says Drewitt. Our aim is to flatten out our revenues by manufacturing black boxes in volume so that a third of overall business comes from invoiceable sales. This will balance out our systems side. The company now has capacity to produce UKP1.2m to UKP1.3m of equipment annually, and is remodelling existing designs to sell en masse. It also intends to set up OEM deals, like the one with Marconi and it is currently talking to Racal, Bosch and Tate. The company is going for internally generated sales of UKP1.6m this year and UKP2.2m in 1988, and aims to build the total to UKP5m by means of an acquisition. The deal between Cyfas and Marconi Mobile Radio, a division of GEC’s Marconi Communication Systems Ltd is designed to enable both to market products into ‘mutually beneficial areas.’ The first project is to develop the Cyfas RC640 resource allocation system to handle digital traffic. This product will be aimed at the police and fire services, which will be able to interface their mobile radio fleet directly through the RC640; this presently involves interfacing an encoder-decoder unit with the mobile. Marconi and Cyfas aim to build the encoding-decoding circuitry into the standard control head. Sunleigh, the holding company, also owns Blackburn Windings, which makes transformers and coils, Stoneleigh Electronics, which makes battery chargers and printed circuit boards, Sunbury Electronics, which is a Ministry of Defence subcontractor, Emiec, which makes computer-controlled lathes, and Stanelco, which makes welding equipment and plastic coverings. Sunleigh attracted some press attention over the Christmas break: at 27 pence, 55% up over the year, the shares are still regarded as good value.
