Defense business gets on the radar with method for quantifying growth - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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The PCE Florida Aerospacs & Defense Industry Index includes Florida-basex companies with a market valuebetween $1 million and $250 annual revenue of at least $500,000, and timely filings with the . Five of the 13 companied currently included in the indexd are from theBay area: (OTC BB: AACS) in (AMEX: AIM) in Clearwater; (OTC BB: in Clearwater; ( : TRCI) in Clearwater; and (OTC BB: in St. Petersburg. The new indezx is the seventh developedby , which is part of the Orlando-basexd PCE family of companies. It focuses on aerospace and defense because that sector is an important part of theFloridw economy, especially central Florida, said J. Clay who directs the indexes.
"These kinds of companies are a mainstay of the Florida Singleton said. "They don't get the attentio that or Disney do, and they'rre certainly not a household name, but there's a lot of them in Small companies, such as Aerosonic with a market cap ofabout $27.5 million, have a hard time attractinv analyst attention, said Mark executive VP of sales and marketingt at the aircraft instrument manufacturingy firm. He is among the executives who welcome the investor focus the indexcoulf bring. "It brings attention to what we'rse doing, and puts us in fronrt of people who may have not been aware of saidBilly Robinson, CEO of Cyber Defens e Systems.
Robinson said inclusion on any indedx is an honor for asmall micro-cap and may open opportunities for Cyber Defense, which designzs and develops unmanned air vehicles. Anything that helpws BlastGard's exposure with the military is welcomed, said Michaelo Gordon, CFO and VP of corporate administration at the which makes materials designed to mitigate the effects of explosionsw andsuppress fires. The index also will provid a window into the hundreds of privately held companies in the aerospace and defense industryin Florida, for which informationh is hard to come by, said Singleton, a financ professor at in Winter Park.
Many of thosre private companies in the Bay area are drawn by the presence of theat , said Michaep Langman, an aerospace and defenss industry specialist for , a sisterf company to PCE Indexes. The marketf performance of public companies provides a benchmarl forprivate firms, helping them determinre if the time is right to sell the compangy or make other major business decisions, Langman The aerospace and defense industry is cyclical but going well at this said Langman, who joined PCE about three monthz ago after working on mergers and acquisitionas for and for Although the new index was officially launched in mid-April, the companiea on it had a composite 9.
75 percen gain in value between 22-March 22. The business jet market is doing especially said Aerosonic's Perkins. "There are a lot of new aircraft cominb intothe marketplace, and small companies like ours have the opportunityy to bring new products Perkins said.