January 31, 2006

Lowrance to Merge and become Navico

Lowrance is merging with Simrad Yachting company and will be named Navico, a new wholly owned subsidiary of Simrad formed by the merger. Lowrance is one of the world's largest providers of marine electronics to leisure boats and has a particularly strong presence in the fish finders and GPS navigation systems segments of the market. In addition to marine electronic products, Lowrance has produced for over 10 years hand-held GPS mapping products for campers and hikers, as well GPS navigation systems for the automotive and aviation markets.

So, Simrad Yachting has its business in high end yachting electronics. Clearly Lowrance's extensive business in marine electronics is of primary interest here, but one has to question where things stand for the developing consumer segment, especially their automotive products. The founder and current CEO, Darrell Lowrance will be the head of the new combined company, which assumes that they still value the entire Lowrance line and have plans for it.

"I believe the merger with Simrad Yachting is in the best interests of our company and shareholders. The combination of Simrad Yachting and Lowrance will be able to leverage the technology and market position Lowrance has worked hard to develop over the last 48 years, and will create additional opportunities for our employees and customers in the future. Simrad Yachting has a long history of providing high-quality marine electronics products to the commercial and high-end leisure markets and, through B&G, is the world's leading provider of steering equipment and electronics for sail boats. We believe the existing product lines of Simrad Yachting and Lowrance are highly complementary," said Mr. Lowrance.

"We in Simrad Yachting have learned to know Lowrance over some time, and are very impressed by the company, its management and what it has achieved. We look forward to combining the strengths of two great companies," said Mr. Hugo Maurstad, Chairman of the Board of Simrad Yachting.

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