Vitec Announces Acquisition of Autoscript Companies

The Vitec Group announced it has signed an agreement to purchase ALC Broadcast Limited, parent company of Broadcast Developments Limited (BDL) and the Autoscript companies (Autoscript Limited, BDL Autoscript (USA) Inc. and Autoscript Hire Limited), a world-leading company in the design and manufacture of teleprompting systems.

Joop Janssen, Chief Executive of Vitec Group Broadcast Systems Division, said, “We are delighted to announce this agreement. Autoscript is a leading supplier of teleprompting products and technologies around the world that are highly complementary to our product line and business model.

“This acquisition will strengthen our portfolio through its strong brand association with Vinten, Vinten Radamec and Sachtler and drive the development of innovative integrated products for use in studios, robotics and electronic news gathering (ENG) in the field.”

The Autoscript companies, with worldwide sales of £3.5 million in 2005, are confident of sustaining the significant growth achieved in recent years. With groundbreaking innovations such as Voice Activated Prompting, Autoscript’s management is positive that the company will remain at the forefront of prompting for the foreseeable future.

“We are excited about entering into this agreement and believe that Vitec Group will further strengthen our worldwide position and help us to continue to develop as the leading teleprompting company,”said Michael Accardi, President, Autoscript USA Inc.

Completion of the deal is expected during Q4 2006 and is subject to certain conditions being met by ALC Broadcast Limited.