Vega Plc says while its figures for the year to April 30 are not particularly spectacular it has made considerable progress increasing the size of its order book. The company reported net income down 12% at $3.3m while revenue was up 12% at $29.8m. Vega managed to clinch an $8.3m contract to develop software based training systems for the Replacement Maritime Patrol Aircraft, a $6.6m contract with the British Army’s Land Systems Reference Center and a $8.3m renewal of the company’s operations engineering contract with the European Space Operations Center. This year brought with it the arrival of Dr Roger Gilbert who joined the company as managing director from Electronic Data Systems Corp where he spent 17 years ending up managing its Defense division. The company also expanded with the acquisition of 100% of the share capital of Dutch company Kortekerkwal BV and its subsidiary Selmers Automation BV (CI No 2,970) for $7.6m, and it spent another $7.1m on CBL Technology Ltd. Gilbert said the Selmers purchase will help Vega expand into the process industries market and move it into Holland, while CBL’s technology will complement Vega’s existing technology. Gilbert said when he took up his post in April he was impressed by the customer loyalty that the company has established, but he would be concentrating on making the company more sales oriented, pushing its core business forward. Steven Sanderson, Vega’s financial director and company secretary, was also optimistic and said the next 12 to 18 months should see the company increasing profits. Figures were calculated at a rate of $1.658 to the pound.
