Press release

Presteigne, UK
16th October 2001

HRH THE PRINCESS ROYAL PRESENTS LABTECH WITH QUEEN'S AWARD FOR ENTERPRISE

Labtech, a member of the Intelek group of companies, are proud to announce that HRH The Princess Royal visited Labtech's flagship facility in mid-Wales on October 12th, to present them with their Queen's Award for Enterprise 2001.

The Queen's Award for Enterprise is the highest honour which can be bestowed on a UK company. To qualify for the award, companies must meet rigorous assessment criteria to prove that they have obtained "Outstanding achievement in international trade, resulting in substantial growth in overseas earnings and in commercial success, sustained over not less than three years, to levels which are outstanding for the goods or services concerned and for the size of the applicant's operations". In Labtech's case, exports have more than doubled over the last three years.

Labtech's strong export growth has been generated through sales of microwave electronic circuit boards and MMIC packaging solutions for major telecommunications, military and space customers world-wide. These circuits are deployed in wireless telecommunication networks, broadband data access/Internet systems, microwave automotive control systems and radar and satellite applications. Labtech's technology is based on processing high performance PTFE microwave substrates with plated through holes. Circuits can be bonded together in a multi-layer construction and include machined metal backing for high frequency applications such as broadband digital links and 3G base station power amplifiers. Labtech is currently advancing its MMIC (Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit) capability. This technology allows Labtech's customers to achieve very high levels of integration and offer smaller, less power hungry equipment to their end-users. Labtech is one of a very small number of companies world-wide which are familiar with the specialist knowledge required to manufacture this type of circuit.

Dr. Brian Mazonas, Labtech's Managing Director, comments, "We are all delighted and very proud to have won this prestigious award which is so well recognised throughout the world. This is a real team effort achieved through sustained dedication and commitment of our staff and partners. It recognises the ability of our skilled engineering team to develop innovative microwave interconnect solutions which are in high demand in North America and Europe and of the sustained commitment throughout the company to the highest possible quality standards."

Products Available

• Metalbacked PCBs
• Precision s/sided & d/sided softboard PTFE PCBs
• Multilayer Circuit Boards (PCBs)
• DLVAs
• PIN diode switches
• Multioctave broadband amplifiers
• TDM modules
• Active & passive microwave components
• Microwave thin film circuit manufacture
• RF machining & box build assembly