Stanley to buy Techrizon

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

Stanley Inc., an Arlington information technology provider to the U.S. government, this month said it would acquire software developer Techrizon LLC for $30 million.

The fortunes of both companies are closely tied to U.S. war efforts.

Stanley officials said the Techrizon purchase would expand its markets affected by the Pentagon's Base Realignment and Closure program.

Oklahoma-based Techrizon supports divisions of the Army and the Defense Department with its software, training and simulation services. The company employs 300 persons and reported annual revenue last year of $29 million.

Techrizon's employees in Oklahoma work with the Army's Joint Fires Center of Excellence and the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Okla.

"It's a nice complementary fit technologically with a new customer," said Lawrence Delaney Jr., investor relations counsel for Stanley.

Stanley provides information technology services to U.S. defense and federal civilian government agencies. The company has more than 2,400 employees at more than 100 locations in the United States and internationally.

It ranked 58 on Washington Technology's 2006 Top 100 list of the largest federal information technology contractors.

While its stock value has remained flat in recent months, the company has secured new contracts that bode well for the near future, according to stock analysts.

"We expect the solid revenue performance to continue into [fiscal 2008]," said Brian Gesuale, an analyst for Raymond James & Associates.

By early this year, Stanley reported a $1.1 billion backlog of orders, 83 percent more than a year earlier.

The company reported revenue of $102 million in the quarter ending Dec. 31, compared with $68.9 million one year earlier. Its net income was $1.3 million, or 6 cents per diluted share, compared with $3 million, or 19 cents per diluted share, one year earlier.

Company officials explained the drop in income as resulting from expenses related to its initial public offering in October and new acquisitions. They said the flat stock value reflect an industrywide pressure on federal procurement for information technology.

Shares in Stanley (SXE:NYSE) rose 14 cents, or 1 percent, yesterday to close at $14.84 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company's biggest contract is with the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs to produce passports for U.S. citizens. The contract for information technology and staffing of passport centers produces 14 percent of Stanley's revenue.

"Chances are that if you've gotten a passport in the last 15 years, a Stanley employee has put his hands on that document," Mr. Delaney said.

Now Stanley is picking up the pieces of war in Afghanistan and Iraq with contracts to overhaul military equipment that has been worn out or damaged.

"It's almost at a crisis point," Mr. Delaney said.

The company is using its information technology to track the location of the equipment, get it transferred to repair facilities and have it "return to mission-capable status," Mr. Delaney said. The company was founded by Rear Adm. Emory D. Stanley in 1966.