Trimble Acquires Cengea to Expand its Forestry Solutions

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Trimble (Nasdaq: TRMB) announced today it has acquired privately-held Cengea Solutions Inc., based in British Columbia. Cengea is a leading provider of spatially-enabled business operations and supply chain management software for the forestry, agriculture and natural resource industries. The acquisition is part of Trimble's strategic initiative to bring productivity solutions to the forestry and other industries. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Cengea's forestry enterprise software solution manages the operational activities associated with producing raw materials such as lumber, paper and other forest products throughout the value chain—from initial project planning to scheduling of work, growing, harvesting, delivery, tracking of goods, payment, inventory management and real-time reporting. The operational data can be integrated with maps and other spatial data to provide a complete perspective on activities and costs. The combination of Trimble and Cengea's forestry solutions can provide organizations with a comprehensive set of tools to collect accurate operational information faster, manage and analyze the information to facilitate better decision making, and optimize operational activities to improve productivity, efficiency, and safety.  

"Our goal is to provide productivity solutions that transform operations across the complete continuum of forest management activities—from initial site planning and planting to harvesting and transporting timber from the cut site to the mill," said Bill Martin, general manager of Trimble's Forestry Automation and Mobile Computing business areas. "Integrating Trimble's positioning, data collection, operational optimization, and communication technologies with Cengea's enterprise software solutions will enable us to offer a powerful business management system built specifically for the forest products industry. In addition, Cengea's expertise complements our products for natural resources and agriculture. For example, Cengea's agriculture software is a fit for Trimble's Connected Farm strategy, which focuses on seamless field-to-office information management. By wirelessly collecting grower-level data and integrating operations and supply chain activities, we can further enhance an agribusiness' ability to reduce costs and improve productivity."

"Trimble's acquisition of Cengea is an ideal fit for both organizations. Cengea's enterprise supply chain management software and domain experience complements Trimble's forestry transportation management and inventory assessment solutions by providing organizations with additional operational tools," said Garry Rasmussen, president and CEO of Cengea. "The acquisition can benefit Cengea's existing customers in the markets we serve and enhance our ability to support them over a much broader geography."

The Cengea business will be reported as part of Trimble's Mobile Solutions segment.

About Cengea

Cengea Solutions Inc. provides information technology-based business solutions for resource-based enterprises. Cengea serves forest products, agriculture, environment, utilities and government markets in North America and around the world. The company offers industry-leading raw material supply chain execution and optimization solutions for the agriculture and forest products sectors. These solutions enable its clients to make sustainable cost reductions and add value to their products by focusing on solving quality, productivity, compliance and operational business challenges. Cengea's clients are of every size—some of the world's largest and best-known, forest products, agribusiness and conservation organizations as well as small and medium-sized businesses and state and federal departments. The company's 21-year history of serving spatial solutions around the globe puts Cengea in a unique position to understand and help address complex business issues. For more information, visit:  www.cengea.com.

About Trimble's Forestry Automation Business

Trimble's Forestry Automation Business develops solutions and applies technology that allows organizations to manage transportation, control supply chain costs and increase overall efficiency in the forestry industry. Trimble's solutions include a suite of software products and specially-designed rugged computers to meet the real-time needs of the user.

About Trimble

Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location—including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.

For more information, visit Trimble's Web site at www.trimble.com.

Certain statements made in this press release are forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual events and results may differ materially from those described in this news release. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: Trimble's ability to successfully combine Cengea's enterprise software solutions with Trimble technology and forestry transportation management solutions; and Trimble's ability to offer, and have customers adopt a comprehensive set of productivity solutions to the forestry, agriculture, and natural resource markets. Additional risks and uncertainties include: the risks inherent in integrating an acquisition; unanticipated expenditures, charges or assumed liabilities that may result from the acquisition; and retaining key personnel and commercial relationships. More information about potential factors which could affect Trimble's business and financial results is set forth in reports filed with the SEC, including Trimble's quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and its annual report on Form 10-K. All forward looking statements are based on information available to Trimble as of the date hereof, and Trimble assumes no obligation to update such statements.

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SOURCE Trimble