
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 3, 1994                   TAG: 9406030094
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: |By MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BUSINESS ACQUIRES 3 FIRMS

ETS International Inc. of Roanoke said Thursday it has acquired three related Richmond companies that strengthen its position as a provider of environmental services and likely will increase its revenues dramatically.

The three firms - Lyttle Utilities Inc., Stamie E. Lyttle Inc. and LPS Inc. - will operate as a wholly owned ETS subsidiary called ETS Water and Waste Management Inc. and will be known in the trade as Stamie Lyttle Co. Both ETS and its new subsidiary will continue existing operations in their own locations.

ETS bought the companies Wednesday for 2.73 million shares of ETS common stock. No money changed hands, but at Wednesday's closing price of $1.56 a share the deal had a value of about $4.26 million.

The stock market reacted favorably to the news.

John Westergaard of Westergaard Research in New York, who follows ETS for investors, said the stock opened trading Thursday at $1.75 a share and closed at $2.125 - a gain of a half-point.

Nearly 52,000 shares were traded, compared with the usual 6,000 to 7,000 shares. The company has 9 million shares outstanding, Westergaard said. ETS trades among the emerging companies section of the American Stock Exchange.

Westergaard said the deal with Lyttle had been discussed for more than a year because of a question related to bonding for environmental problems.

"It's very important," Westergaard said of the acquisition. "It puts the company in a whole different league." He said he expected revenues to reach about $20 million, compared with $4.5 million for the fiscal year ended May 31, and assets of $1.8 million.

ETS International is a technology firm that provides pollution-control products and services. It specializes in toxic-emission measurement and control. Besides its air-testing business, ETS also has a water-testing lab in the Roanoke Valley. ETS employs 75 people in the Roanoke area.

The acquired companies install water, sewer and gas lines, septic systems and perform related services. They reported combined revenues of $12 million and assets of $900,000 in the past fiscal year. The companies were founded in 1947 and have 150 employees in the Richmond area.

ETS said the existing Richmond management of Coleman Lyttle as president, Navin Sheth as executive vice president and Dave Paulette as vice president will remain in place.

The company said the stock transaction to pay for the acquisition is viewed by management as non-dilutive. ETS said the number of outstanding ETS shares increased 30 percent, while assets rose 50 percent and revenues 267 percent.

Lyttle said the merger would strengthen both sides and benefit employees.

ETS Chairman John D. McKenna cited "some obvious synergies which should result from the merger of ETSI's design and analytical skills with the infrastructure capability and many years' experience of the Lyttle Companies."

McKenna said the merger allows ETS to improve service to clients in the Richmond area, "thus further strengthening and expanding ETSI as a dominant regional provider of environmental services."

by CNB