Acal has agreed to acquire the entire issued share capital of BFi OPTiLAS, a private specialised distributor of electronic and photonic components, modules and systems across Europe, as well as supplying valueadded calibration and maintenance services. BFi will be acquired for a consideration of €10 million payable in cash and 2 million Acal ordinary shares to be issued on completion.

For the twelve months to June 2009, BFi OPTiLAS had revenue of €105.0m (2008: €128.8m), EBITDA before non-current operating income and expenses of €0.7m (2008: €4.4m) and operating profit from current operations of €48,000 (2008: €3.6m)

The Acal Group is a European technology-based distributor providing sales, marketing and other services through three divisions: Electronics, Supply Chain and Medical. Acal has operating companies in the UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, South Africa, Spain and Scandinavia. For the last year, the Acal Group’s revenue was £165.4 million (2008: £159.5 million), with the increase due to foreign exchange and acquisitions, producing an operating profit before exceptional items of £0.3 million compared with £6.1 million in 2008.

Profit before tax and exceptional items from continuing operations was £0.5 million (2008: £6.1 million). The loss after tax and exceptional items from continuing operations was £37.0 million (2008: profit £0.5 million).