Hexagon acquires Sud Mesure SA

HEXAGON ACQUIRES SUD MESURE S.A. Hexagon's Swiss subsidiary TESA S.A. has acquired Sud Mesure S.A. with an annual sales turnover of 20 MSEK. The Sales are primarily to the US, Taiwanese and European markets. The acquisition is expected to contribute to Hexagons earnings as of closing of the acquisition, which is expected to take place during April 2003. Hexagon will via TESA expand the business into the non-contact area and continue to develop manual 3-Dimensional vision machines. The Acquisition will strengthen the TESA non-contact programme currently consisting of the TESA SCAN and TESA PROFILE. Sud Mesure S.A. is closing down its production in Avignon, France and TESA will make the products in its factory in Renens, Switzerland. TESA is a part of Hexagon Metrology and will continue its non-contact expansion via further acquisitions and organic growth. The Official launch of TESA's new non-contact programme will be at the Control Trade Show in Sinsheim, Germany, May 6-9th. For further information, please contact: Ola Rollén, President and CEO Antonio Aparicio, Managing Director Hexagon AB Brown & Sharpe TESA S.A. Phone: +46 (0)8 - 601 26 20 Phone: +41 21 63 31 700 Hexagon AB is a multinational engineering group with the long-term ambition of positioning itself as number one or number two within its strategic sectors. The operation is divided into four business areas: Hexagon Automation, Hexagon Engineering, Hexagon Metrology and Hexagon Polymers. 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 GSEK p.a.