Facial recognition specialist bought by COE owner

DIGITAL video recording business Visimetrics, a specialist in facial recognition technology, has been bought by Digital Barriers in a deal that could be worth up to £8m.

Advanced surveillance technologies business Digital Barriers is the owner of Leeds-based surveillance company COE.

The acquistion of Prestwick, Scotland-based, business Visimetrics includes its subsidiary OmniPerception.

Established in 1996, Visimetrics develops and manufactures high-performance digital video recording, storage and management systems for video surveillance systems. Its customers include law enforcement, criminal justice, defence and other public sector organisations.
 
Digital Barriers will pay an initial sum of £3.3m for the business, a figure which could rise by a further £4.7m if certain targets are hit.
 
For the year ended September 30 2012, Visimetrics recorded a loss of £1.29m on turnover of £1.76m.
 
Zak Doffman, development director of Digital Barriers, said: “Visimetrics and OmniPerception bring an impressive range of additional technologies into the group, including advanced facial recognition and identity management solutions, helping us establish a fourth key technology area.

“This is an area of significant interest for Digital Barriers and we see compelling opportunities to take facial recognition solutions to our customers around the world.”