Chemring to buy IED-detecting specialists

Defence group Chemring is buying Roke Manor, a roadside bomb detection specialist, for £55m in cash.

"There is a greater and greater dependence on electronics in military countermeasures," said Chemring chief executive David Price, "and one of Roke's key capabilities is in electronic warfare." Roke Manor's most famous invention is an automatic landmine detector which has been used in Angola, Somalia and Cambodia.

Chemring says it expects to see increases in earnings per share within the first full year following the completion of the deal. The acquisition is its eighth in the past five years.

Roke Manor was established by Plessey in 1956 on a 22-acre, 15th century estate near Romsey and was sold to Siemens in 1991.

It claims 350 patents in the defence, national security and medical markets.