() (pronounced
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Kinetic Energy ) is a
British Defence Technology Company , formed from the greater part of the former government agency
DERA when it was split up in June 2001 (with the smaller part becoming
Dstl ). The
Chief Executive at inception was the present day Chairman
Sir John Chisholm . The current CEO is
Graham Love . As a privatised company, QinetiQ is now one of the largest defence research organisations in the world and employs over 11,400 people.
QinetiQ solves defence and security problems that involve
Science and
Technology . For example, it made the semi-intelligent
Ultrasound Scuba Diver detector called
Cerberus . The defence research sites that now form QinetiQ were previously involved in the invention of
Liquid Crystal Display s, the technology for
One Type Of Flat Panel Speakers ,
Microwave Radar ,
Chobham Armour , and
Thermal Imager s. In recent years QinetiQ has also developed
Software products, especially those for the defence and
Security industries. Examples include the "SURVIVE" vulnerability and recoverability assessment codehttp://www.qinetiq.com/home/defence/technology_solutions/maritime/platform_support_services/survive.html. SURVIVE was originally developed to assess the vulnerability of ships to weapon attack, but has been expanded to cover naval recoverability (damage control, firefighting, capability restoration), escape and evacuation and explosive safety and, in recent years, to cover tri-service vulnerability (aircraft, vehicles) and infrastructure (buildings, fortifications, etc.). In so doing it has become Europe's leading tri-service vulnerabiltiy assessment tool.
QinetiQ has a long term agreement (25 years) with the
UK Ministry Of Defence (MoD) to manage military ranges. It is a major stakeholder in the UK
Defence Technology Centre which places military research contracts on behalf of the MoD.
of the UK defence technology organisation QinetiQ]]
Since April 2005 the QinetiQ group has been split into three divisions:
- Defence and Technology,
- Security and Dual Use,
- North America - contains the North American acquisitions listed below.
The major UK sites are at
Farnborough ,
Hampshire (the historical
Royal Aircraft Establishment ) and
Malvern, Worcestershire (the historical
RSRE /
RRE /
TRE ), each having more than 2,000 employees. Trials aircraft are flown out of
Boscombe Down ,
Wiltshire (the historical
A&AEE ). The number of UK employees is believed to be around 9,000 (figures as of April 2005).
When Defence Minister
Lewis Moonie announced the creation of QinetiQ in 2001, he said that it would remain a British company, based in the UK. The MoD would keep a 'Special Share' in the company, and safeguards would be in place to prevent conflicts of interest. In February 2003, the U.S.
Private Equity firm the
Carlyle Group acquired a 33.8% share in the company for £42m. Prior to stock market flotation, ownership was split between the MoD (56%), Carlyle Group (31%) and staff (13%). The Carlyle Group was expected to invest for three to five years, after which a stock exchange float would take place.
QinetiQ was floated on the
London Stock Exchange in February 2006. The company had been valued at between £1.1bn and £1.3bn, with the MoD holding estimated to be worth £616m - £728m, the Carlyle Group's holding £341m - £403m, and staff/management's holding worth £143m - £169m. Some controversy was generated by the very large likely returns for the
Carlyle Group and senior managers, with figures of over £20m suggested in the media for
Sir John Chisholm .
Financial press speculation concerning a stock exchange float increased in January 2006. On
January 12 an announcement was made in parliament by Dr
John Reid , Secretary of State for Defence. He said that the Carlyle Group, 'will continue to retain a significant stake in the company', and that the British government would continue to hold a '
Golden Share ' in QinetiQ to protect the United Kingdom's security and defence interests.
Controversy also arose around the fact that retail investors were to be excluded from the
Initial Public Offering (IPO) due to QinetiQ's complexity and the fact that institutional investors would require less complicated marketing and financing. This led to contrasts with the 'Sid' campaign for
British Gas Plc in
1986 , where retail investors were encouraged to buy shares, both with discounts and a large advertising campaign. The issue was partially resolved by allowing some
Brokerage firms to place orders in the IPO as part of a combined order, allowing the firm to purchase as though an
Institutional Investor , but on behalf of clients. While this did not result in a public campaign or retail investor discounts, it did allow many investors to purchase shares directly in the IPO.
The company floated on
10 February 2006 , with an IPO of 200p per share, which gave QinetiQ an initial market value of £1.3bn. On
13 February 2006 (the Monday after the Friday IPO) QinetiQ shares closed at 219.5p per share, valuing the company at over £1.4bn. However, by late March
2006 QinetiQ shares dropped 15% from that peak (7% from the IPO price) to 186p each.
Speculation that a consortium including QinetiQ may be about to win a £10bn MoD training contract helped push their share price back above 190p in early Nov 2006.
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It was announced on 17 January 2007 that the QinetiQ led
Metrix Consortium was the preferred bidder for package two of the MoD's Defence Training Rationalisation programme, worth approx £16bn.
In September 2004 QinetiQ acquired the U.S. defence companies
Westar and
Foster-Miller (maker of the
Talon robot).
In 2004 QinetiQ acquired
HVR Consulting Services Ltd. a leading UK based engineering consultancy.
In early August 2005 QinetiQ announced that it would acquire
Apogen Technologies, Inc., pending regulatory approval. The QinetiQ website lists this merger as costing $288.0m (£162.7m).
In September 2005 QinetiQ acquired a 90% share of
Verhaert Design and Development NV (VDD), the
Belgian space systems integrator.
In October 2005 QinetiQ acquired Broadreach Networks Limited, a supplier of
Wi-Fi internet to the European
Rail Industry .
In February 2006 QinetiQ acquired
Graphics Research Corporation Ltd, developer of the Paramarine software suite of ship and submarine design tools.
In January 2007 QinetiQ acquired Analex, a US corporation providing high technology professional services and solutions, principally to the US Government and its agencies.
In February 2007 the acquisition of ITS Corporation, a provider of IT services to the US government and its agencies, was announced. The disposal of Aerospace Filtration Systems (formerly part of Westar) was announced at the same time.
QinetiQ is one of the UK's largest
Employer s of
Science and
Engineering Graduate s - recruiting around 300 a year. Since 2002 it has appeared in the
Times Top 100 Graduate Employers list.
In September 2005
Graham Love replaced Sir John Chisholm as Chief Executive. John Chisholm became Executive Chairman; the previous chairman Dame
Pauline Neville-Jones having resigned earlier in the year.
In October 2006, ex-
CIA Director
George Tenet joined QinetiQ as an independent non-executive director.
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