Business Update & Space Station Vehicle Contract
Radstone Technology PLC
21 February 2000
Radstone Technology PLC
Business Update
and
Space Station Crew Return Vehicle Contract
Business Update
Demand for Radstone's range of Commercial-off-the-Shelf
(COTS) rugged computer products grew strongly in the
second half of the 1999 calendar year.
New orders in Q3 totalled £11.4 millions, taking the
Group's order intake for the 9 months to 31st December
1999 to £27.5 millions, a 13% increase compared to last
year. At the end of Q3 the order book for future
delivery stood at a record £31.0 millions, 31% above the
December 1998 level.
Q3 orders from established customers included a further
£1.1 millions from Northrop-Grumman on the Firefinder
program, together with £1.0 millions from General
Dynamics Defense Systems for further Trident submarine
upgrades.
Assimilation of the recent FT Kemitron acquisition is
proceeding, with a good level of acceptance among its
major customers. Integration of the component supply
arrangements within the enlarged Radstone Group has been
given high priority, in order to maximise the leverage of
the Group's enhanced purchasing power. Radstone's direct
access to the US component market is expected to be a
major advantage in the face of current component
shortages within the industry.
Sales for the 9 months were £20.0 millions, a 23%
increase compared to the same period last year. The book
to bill ratio is strongly positive at 1.38. The outcome
for the full year is expected to be within current market
expectations.
Space Station Crew Return Vehicle Contract
Following a new design win at the NASA Johnson Space
Center, Radstone will supply its COTS technology into the
X-38 Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) for the International
Space Station.
In the event of an emergency, the CRV provides
crewmembers with the means to evacuate the Space Station
quickly and return to earth.
NASA's innovative CRV will be the first new, manned
spacecraft, built to travel to and from orbit, for 20
years. By using COTS equipment and technology for up to
80 percent of the spacecraft's design, the CRV is being
developed at a fraction of the cost of previous space
vehicles. It is planned to build four operational CRV's
for less than half the cost of a single Space Shuttle
orbiter. Radstone's initial NASA contract award is worth
£0.6 millions.
To take full advantage of COTS technology, NASA chose
Radstone's VMEbus COTS products, including its market-
leading PowerPC processors, for this mission critical
environment.
Radstone hardware will be used in the flight critical
computers - the backbone of the spacecraft's avionics -
and in the command and telemetry computers which serve as
the vehicle's primary man/machine interface, sending
telemetry data to several destinations, including ground
control and the orbiter flight deck.
Charles Paterson, Radstone Group Managing Director,
commented:
' We are delighted to be working with NASA Johnson Space
Center on the X-38 CRV. The programme represents a major
extension of Radstone's involvement with the
International Space Station project and underlines the
significance of our COTS technology in the most critical
application areas'.
'Our record order book encourages us that our products
and services now match the needs of our customers more
closely than ever before. The Group continues to make
substantial progress and we look forward with
confidence.'
For further information please contact:
Radstone Technology PLC 01327 359444
Dr Charles Paterson, Managing Director, or
Jeff Perrin, Finance Director
Square Mile Communications Ltd 0171 601 1000
Nick Oborne
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