Hexagon divests business area Wireless

HEXAGON DIVESTS BUSINESS AREA WIRELESS Hexagon AB has reached an agreement to divest Moteco AB and its subsidiaries to the public Finnish company Perlos Corporation. The disposal will be concluded on December 31, 2001. The divestiture includes business units that develop, manufacture and market antennas for mobile phones as well as communication for short distances within the Bluetooth and the WLAN application area. The Entities combined net sales for 2001 amounts to almost 100 MSEK and have a negative profit. "The divestiture of Wireless is a part of the Hexagon strategy to further concentrate its operations into a smaller number of business areas. Aggressive investments within the metrology business, including aftermarket- and software, has increased the annual turn over for Hexagon from less than 5 to more than 7 billion SEK during the past 12 months", comments Ola Rollén, President & C.E.O. of Hexagon AB. "We welcome Perlos as the new owner of Moteco and gigaAnt. It is high time for a consolidation of the components industry for mobile phones. Hexagons target is to become and remain No. 1 or No. 2 in its strategic businesses. We gave the thought to take the lead in this restructuring a serious evaluation. But considering the growth potential we now see in Metrology and other areas we regard Perlos to be a more suited leader in this restructuring than Hexagon.", continues Ola Rollén. " For further information, please contact: Ola Rollén, President & C.E.O. Hexagon AB Tel: +46-(0)8-601 26 20 Hexagon AB is a multinational engineering group with the long-term ambition of positioning itself as number one or number two within its strategies sector. The operation is divided into three business areas: Hexagon Automation, Hexagon Engineering and Hexagon Metrology. The group's targets are to increase earnings per share after tax by at least 15 per cent p.a., and achieve a return on capital employed higher than 15 per cent over the business cycle. Current turnover amounts to more than 7 SEK billion p.a.