Datalogic acquires Evolution Robotics Retail Inc.

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Datalogic S.p.A. (Datalogic) has announced the acquisition, through its subsidiary Datalogic Scanning Holdings Inc., of the entire share capital of Evolution Robotics Retail, Inc., a company located in California with expertise in visual pattern recognition technology for use currently in retail loss prevention and productivity applications ("Evolution Robotics Retail"). The agreement was signed on 1 July, 2010 with Future Vision Holdings, Inc. and Idealab, controlling companies of Evolution Robotics Retail.

The entire management and technical team of Evolution Robotics Retail will remain with the company and continue to drive innovation in the retail sector while also working with Datalogic to promote its visual pattern recognition technology (ViPR) in other commercial and industrial arenas.

Strategy
The acquisition provides for a broadening of Datalogic's solution-based offerings, adds an innovative and key technological capability and offers a high-growth business prospect. Furthermore, the transaction will allow Datalogic to strengthen its own research activities thanks to the skills of world renowned vision technology experts and also to pursue a primary role in the promising visual pattern recognition industrial sector.

The acquisition of patents and expertise in the area of vision-based technologies will allow Datalogic to develop a wide range of solutions based on visual pattern recognition. Regarding market share, the acquisition of Evolution Robotics Retail's existing business will immediately reinforce Datalogic's worldwide leadership in the retail sector. Furthermore, new visual pattern recognition solutions aimed at managing several other in-store applications will allow Datalogic to increase its penetration with major global retailers, most of whom are current Datalogic customers.

Mauro Sacchetto, Datalogic Chief Executive Officer, commented: "Even during these difficult economic times, Datalogic continues to seize bright opportunities for innovation and growth. This acquisition further strengthens our technological leadership with avant-garde technologies which are unique in the field of visual pattern recognition. For example, the company's applications are capable of automatically identifying items in shopping cart baskets utilising sophisticated object recognition algorithms. We also believe that visual pattern recognition will be a key technological building block in our industrial focused businesses and we expect to capitalise on this soon. More fundamentally, as a company we are looking to further balance our portfolio by investing strongly in solution-based businesses and not just in hardware-based businesses thereby creating more value for our customers and positioning Datalogic as a more strategic partner. Our ability to detect and anticipate the needs of our customers and the market are, as always, the real drivers of Datalogic."

Alec Hudnut, Evolution Robotics Retail Chief Executive Officer, anticipates a superb partnership with Datalogic to unfold, commenting, "We were looking for a strong company with which to align and we could not be more pleased with Datalogic as our partner and parent company. We fully expect that Datalogic's strong position in the retail sector, its expansive distribution network and global reach and its access to other industrial-based applications will allow us to propel our company further and faster than we could otherwise do on our own."

Value of the transaction
The value of the transaction is equal to U.S.D. 25,500,000.00. Evolution Robotics Retail has no debt and Datalogic funded the acquisition by means of its own financial resources.

The financial statements as of December 31, 2009, show that Evolution Robotics Retail realised revenues equal to U.S.D. 5.1 million and a negative EBITDA equal to U.S.D. 2.7 million.

The value of the transaction is mainly constituted by intangible assets such as patents, trade secrets, copyrights and other intellectual property rights, licensing agreements and customer portfolios.

Evolution Robotics Retail has five patents and eleven patent applications filed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Evolution Robotics Retail
Evolution Robotics Retail was established in 2006 by Idealab, a creator and operator of technology companies, with the intent of focusing on the ViPR technology for use in loss-prevention applications in the retail sector. The Company's value proposition is to turn retail losses into real time profits.

The company's flagship product, LaneHawk BOB, is used for loss prevention in the bottom-ofbasket at retail checkout and has gained broad acceptance with over 10,000 lanes installed in the U.S.A.

Several follow-on products, utilising the ViPR technology and focused on loss-prevention and productivity applications including LaneHawk InCart, ShelfHawk and TunnelHawk, are currently in pilot stage with major retailers in the U.S.A.