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Stokes Ltd exits manufacturing in $5m sale to become tech playerBy Jared LynchUpdated June 4, 2015 — 5.10pmfirst published at 3.42pmSaveShareNormal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text sizeAdvertisementOne of Australia's oldest companies has quit manufacturing in favour of expanding its technical division.Stokes Limited, a 159-year-old Melbourne-based company, has sold its appliance parts and service divisions in a $5 million deal.Stokes made the famous 'rising sun' badge for the Australian Army for decades.The sale comes two-and-a-half years after former traffic light entrepreneur Con Scrinis took over the company with brothers Peter and Greg Jinks.Stokes, which used to make the rising sun badge for the Australian Army, will now focus on supplying lighting and audio visual equipment to the commercial market, including office blocks, factories, schools and hospitals.Stokes Limited managing director Con Scrinis.CREDIT:EAMON GALLAGHERMr Scrinis, who is the company's chief executive and holds 15 per cent of its stock, said the sale wasn't part of his initial game plan when he took over Stokes, despite founding and running industrial lighting company Moonlighting in the 1990s and early 2000s."When we came to Stokes we wanted to fix up Stokes," he said. "That was our main concern."I couldn't have written a script back then that this is what we would be doing now."Mr Scrinis declined to reveal the buyer of Stokes' appliance divisions, but said it was a family who would run it as a private company under the Stokes name.AdvertisementHe also distanced Stokes from another old Australian company that attempted to transform itself into a tech player, Hills Limited, known for the Hills Hoist clothesline.Hills ditched chief executive Ted Pretty last month in favour of chief operating officer Grant Logan, after Mr Pretty's attempt to remake the company began to fall apart in February when it issued a disastrous profit downgrade. This failed to curb Mr Petty's enthusiasm for more acquisitions, saying the company could spend another $230 million on purchases.Mr Scrinis said the expansion of Stokes' technology division was organic, with the company hiring staff previously associated with either him or the Jinks brothers."That's not saying we won't make another acquisition. It's in our blood," Mr Scrinis said, highlighting that when he ran traffic signal company Traffic Technologies it made 15 acquisitions in three years.He said he was determined to make investment decisions based on creating shareholder value, saying the sale of Stokes' appliance divisions was a fair price and the company's share price could double to almost $1."We have been able to grow Stokes' market cap from $1 million to $15 million in two-and-a-half years," Mr Scrinis said."We have got where we are because we have enhanced shareholder value along the way."He said the appliance parts division was now solid, generating annual revenue of more than $8 million and earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortisation of more than $1.2 million.Mr Scrinis said the company chose to sell the appliance businesses, rather than recapitalise, to fund the expansion of its technology division.Stokes' shares, which are tightly held, remained unchanged at 49 cents a share in afternoon trade on Thursday.
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