McDonald Bradley makes a deal

Privately owned McDonald Bradley Inc. is acquiring Infodata Systems Inc. in a $7.56 million all cash deal.

The value of the deal is about $1.3 million above Infodata's current market capitalization. Infodata is publicly traded as an over the counter stock. Infodata of Herndon, Va., will become private once the transaction is completed. The deal is expected to close by July 31, subjected to approval by Infodata's shareholders and completion of due diligence.

Infodata is an IT company specializing in open solutions for enterprise content management. Its revenues for 2004 were about $9.6 million.

The deal is expected to assist McDonald Bradley, also of Herndon, in its Pentagon and intelligence business. The company reported revenues of $57 million in 2004, more than a 50 percent increase over 2003 revenues.

"The Infodata core business is very complementary to and supportive of our work in horizontal fusion across the Department of Defense," said Kenneth Bartee, president and CEO of McDonald Bradley. "This strategic acquisition enables us to leverage our expertise in this technology area while at the same time allows us to quickly expand the McDonald Bradley presence and our technical proficiency throughout the intelligence community."

Infodata was drawn to McDonald Bradley because the business and customer bases were complementary, said Edwin Miller, president and CEO of Infodata.

Infodata today also announced a loss for the quarter that ended March 31, of $364,000, or 7 cents per share on a diluted basis. It was the first net loss reported by the company in 12 consecutive quarters.

Infodata officials said the loss was due to reduction in revenues from company software and maintenance, a transition in an American Red Cross project from development to deployment, and non-recurring expenses to restate 2004 financial results and investment banking fees. In April, Infodata laid off seven sales, marketing and development personnel.

Major recent contracts won by McDonald Bradley include an $11.1 million contract in March 2005 with the Defense Department to build a network providing information to troops in Iraq defusing roadside bombs; a subcontract worth up to $8 million in August 2004 to provide independent verification and validation services to the Patent and Trademark Office; and a $20 million contract with the Pentagon in April 2004 to build a global military intranet.