Monitor Labs to Acquire Michigan Equipment Firm

SAN DIEGO — 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.