From Federal Signal's 3rd Qtr ResultsPlease don't think I'm defending the Evil Empire, but they're trying to make a living also.
YTD 09 sales down 15.8% from 2008
Q3 09 sales down 21.4% from 2008
They don't state so directly, but I'm guessing that their license plate recognition technology is in their "Safety and Security Systems."
They're not exactly flush with cash--they have $21m at 9/30/09 and purchased Diamond Consulting Services, Ltd. for $14.6m according to their 12/10/09 PR.
They are being sued on multiple fronts by firemen for high frequency hearing loss--they've won some and lost some. So much for public safety, huh?
They lost $110m on discontinued operations in Q3 08 and $10m in Q? 09 (it shows up in the YTD). This means they've had some fairly high profile screw ups, especially the $110m.
They're presently on an austerity program to reduce overheads.
Their gross margins are in the 25% range and declining YTD and from prior year slightly.
Order backlog of $209m at end of Q3 09.
Frankly, YTD these guys are not generating that much cash and have lots of debt. My guess is maybe $30-33m generated for the year unless they have a Black Swan event--the new acquisition cannot add much if it was completed on 12/10/09.
They could have picked a stronger "partner."