Teledyne Technologies bought Canadian airborne lidar leader in 2012
Teledyne Technologies Inc. said its digital imaging business posted $102.4 million in 2013 first quarter sales, a 9 percent increase that included $9.3 million in revenue from buying a majority stake in Ontario-based Optech Inc., the world’s leading manufacturer of advanced lidar and camera survey instruments.
The revenue gains, also a result of bigger sales of medical imaging and infrared sensors, were partially offset by decreased sales of imagers for remote sensing applications, said Teledyne, based in Thousand Oaks, Calif. The company’s digital imaging segment posted $415.9 million in sales for 2012, a 19 percent increase. The segment’s operating profit was $24.8 million in 2012, up 54 percent compared to the prior year.
Teledyne’s digital imaging segment consists of Optech’s portfolio of lidar systems for airborne terrestrial mapping, mobile mapping and laser-based 3D imaging applications for customers in energy, natural resources, infrastructure and government mapping, security and defense.
Teledyne’s digital imaging segment’s first quarter sales boost led to a 21 percent jump in operating profit of $5.2 million, which was partially offset by an operating loss of $1.4 million at Optech.
Teledyne boosted its 19 percent minority interest in Optech to a 51 percent controlling stake in April 2012 for about $28 million. Optech had sales of almost $55 million for its FY2012.
Optech also provides systems and software for airborne laser bathymetry, which provide high-resolution 3D data and imagery of coastal land and the seafloor, and other pertinent information about the seafloor and water column. It also provides space-proven sensors for orbital operations and planetary exploration.
With its recent acquisitions of Optech, RESON, a leading provider of multibeam sonar systems, and BlueView, a manufacturer of hi-res 2D and 3D multibeam imaging sonar that can be deployed on multiple surveillance platforms, and Optech last year, Teledyne now offers 3D marine imaging systems for use from aircraft, fixed platforms, surface vessels and AUVs over a wide range of distances and water depths.
