Monitor Labs to Acquire Michigan Equipment Firm

Adhering to its plan to expand through acquisitions, Monitor Labs Inc. said Wednesday that it has signed an agreement to buy Image Data Systems Inc., an industrial electronics-equipment supplier in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The deal--for an undisclosed amount--should be completed in the next three to four weeks, according to Francis J. Harding, executive vice president of the San Diego-based air-pollution monitoring company. Its industry has been hard hit the last few years and is now growing at an annual rate of only about 5%. As a result of the market slump, Monitor reported losses of $168,375 and $277,429 in 1982 and 1983, respectively.

The company hired two new executives in 1983--Harding and President Kenneth E. Years--who reduced inventory, fashioned an expansion effort and have apparently turned the firm around. Earnings for the nine months ended last Sept. 30 were $214,904, or 14 cents per share, and Harding predicted that the fourth quarter will also be profitable.

Image Data, which will remain in Ann Arbor, supplies computer-based vision equipment to factories for inspection and quality-control uses. Production, now contracted to outside firms in Michigan, will be transferred to Monitor, according to Lawrence Cohn, Image Data’s president and chief executive.