Andor Technology

Andor Technology was founded in 1989 as a spin-out from the physics department of Queen’s University Belfast, a department with a long record of developing diagnostic equipment. It began as a Queen’s campus company and later moved off campus.⁠[1]

The company was founded by Donal Denvir, Hugh Cormican and Mike Pringle, who had worked in spectroscopy at the university.⁠[2]

Companies House records show that the company was incorporated on March 15, 1989 as Zumbooruk Limited and renamed Andor Technology Ltd on February 28, 1990.⁠[3]

In its early years Denvir entered into a commercial arrangement with Oriel to develop a spectral analyser that Oriel could sell through its catalogue. The company did not take venture capital at that stage; development money came from Oriel and a small local government grant. Andor also turned down an option to become part of Oriel, as the founders felt their niche technology would be lost inside a large company.⁠[2]

By 2000 the company had decided to enter the imaging market directly, adopting the electron-multiplying CCD (EMCCD) sensor developed by e2v.⁠[2]

In 2001 the private equity firm LDC provided development capital to Andor to expand production capacity and enter new markets.⁠[4]

In October 2003 Hugh Cormican was the company’s managing director. Andor had about 110 employees, annual turnover of about $15 million and exported about 95 percent of its products. Its electron-multiplying CCD cameras sold for about $30,000 to $100,000 and were used in nanotechnology research, astrophysics (including a University College Cork study of quasars) and filming biological processes in living cells at 120 to 450 frames per second.⁠[1]

On November 12, 2004 the company’s name changed from Andor Technology Ltd to Andor Technology plc.⁠[3]

On December 3, 2004 Andor’s shares were admitted to trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.⁠[5]

At admission the company placed 5,015,643 new shares at 90 pence each, raising about £4.5 million; existing institutional backers placed a further 4,145,865 shares for about £3.7 million. Market capitalisation on admission was about £23 million. Bridgewell acted as nominated adviser and broker, and the proceeds were to fund research and development and streamline production.⁠[4]

At the time of listing the company had 145 employees and customers in 29 countries, and it was only the second Northern Ireland company to list on AIM. Hugh Cormican was chief executive and Bryan Keating was non-executive chairman.⁠[6]

For the year ended September 30, 2004 Andor’s revenue was £11.7 million and its adjusted profit before tax was £1.2 million.⁠[5]

In the same week as its listing, Andor moved into a purpose-built facility of about 50,000 square feet in Belfast that cost about £6 million. The company describes it as its largest facility, with optical, electronic and mechanical workshops, a 3,000-square-foot clean room, and vacuum and electronic processing facilities.⁠[7][8]

Hugh Cormican stepped down as chief executive in August 2006. After two external searches failed to find a candidate, Andor announced on June 1, 2007 the appointment of its finance director, Conor Walsh, as chief executive; Walsh had been with the company for five years and had worked on its AIM listing and several acquisitions.⁠[9]

Cormican resigned as a director of the company on September 20, 2007.⁠[10]

At the same time Andor announced plans to list 26.7 million shares on Dublin’s Irish Enterprise Exchange (IEX) on June 29, 2007. The listing was not intended to raise funds; its aims were to improve liquidity, provide a euro share price and raise the company’s profile among Irish private investors.⁠[9]

On December 23, 2009 Andor acquired Bitplane AG, a Zurich, Switzerland-based microscopy image analysis software company; the price was not disclosed. Bitplane’s core product, Imaris, visualises and analyses 3D and 4D microscopy datasets. Bitplane continued to trade under its own name, its management and staff remained, and its founder Marius Messerli joined Andor.⁠[11]

In April 2010 Andor acquired the trade and assets of Photonic Instruments Inc. and Imaginative Optics Inc. (together “Photonic”), based in Saint Charles, Illinois, and Beverly, Massachusetts. Their products included the Micropoint and Mosaic systems for fluorescence imaging and laser ablation.⁠[12]

The initial consideration was US$5.0 million (£3.25 million) in cash plus 156,627 Andor ordinary shares, with up to US$1.95 million (£1.27 million) more in cash and shares depending on performance. Photonic had 2009 revenue of US$3.0 million and operating profit of US$0.8 million. Andor planned to move its manufacturing to the Belfast facility within a year and to manage sales from its US hub in Connecticut.⁠[12]

Oxford Instruments began discussions with Andor in July 2013, proposing 420 pence per share on July 9 and raising the proposal to 470 pence on September 7; on October 9 it was granted due diligence access on the basis of 470 pence.⁠[13][14]

On November 12, 2013 Oxford Instruments announced that it was in discussions with Andor’s board about an indicative cash offer of 500 pence per share, an announcement made without Andor’s agreement; under Rule 2.6(a) of the Takeover Code it had until 5.00 p.m. on December 10 to announce a firm offer or withdraw. On November 27 Oxford Instruments confirmed that it had completed due diligence and confirmed the 500 pence proposal to Andor’s board.⁠[13][15]

On December 2, 2013 Andor’s board said it was disappointed that Oxford Instruments had not raised its price, that it was evaluating strategic alternatives including a stand-alone strategy, and that it was seeking a recommendable offer from Oxford Instruments or other parties; it advised shareholders to take no action. On December 6 Oxford Instruments raised its proposal to 525 pence per share and described it as final.⁠[16][14]

On October 18, 2013 Andor announced the acquisition of the entire share capital of Spectral Applied Research Inc. of Toronto, Canada, for C$11.3 million (£6.8 million) in cash, plus an earn-out of up to C$5.0 million (£3.0 million) tied to average operating profit over the first three years. Spectral designs and manufactures optical systems for cell biology research, including integrated laser engines, Borealis illumination systems and the Diskovery spinning disk confocal platform; it had 32 employees and 2012 revenue of C$5.6 million.⁠[17]

On October 29, 2013 Andor announced the acquisition of Apogee Imaging Systems of California for US$3.75 million in cash, plus up to US$0.34 million depending on performance. Founded in 1993, Apogee makes cooled CCD cameras for government laboratories, astronomers and instrument makers, and had 19 employees.⁠[18]

On December 10, 2013 Oxford Instruments, through its wholly owned subsidiary Oxford Instruments Nanotechnology Tools Holdings Limited, made a cash offer recommended by Andor’s board of 525 pence per share, valuing Andor’s entire issued and to-be-issued share capital at about £176 million, a premium of about 31 percent to the closing price of 400 pence on November 11, 2013.⁠[5]

Andor directors Colin Walsh (chairman), Conor Walsh (chief executive) and Donal Denvir gave irrevocable undertakings to accept in respect of about 4.25 percent of the shares, Polar Capital LLP gave an undertaking over about 3.89 percent, and Cazenove Capital Management gave a non-binding letter of intent over about 9.82 percent, together about 17.96 percent of the issued share capital.⁠[5]

For the year ended September 30, 2013 Andor’s revenue was £54.6 million and its adjusted profit before tax was £7.4 million; at that date it had net assets of £50.9 million and net cash of £22.9 million. It had more than 400 employees and offices in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, with four divisions: Research, Microscopy Systems, OEM and Software.⁠[5]

Oxford Instruments said the acquisition would accelerate its strategy in the Nano-Bio market and that Andor’s product portfolio was highly complementary to its Nanotechnology Tools division.⁠[5]

On January 22, 2014 Oxford Instruments declared the offer wholly unconditional, having received valid acceptances for 30,397,696 shares (about 94.93 percent of the issued share capital) by 1.00 p.m. on January 21. The offer remained open for acceptance until 1.00 p.m. on February 4, and Oxford Instruments stated its intention to compulsorily acquire the remaining shares under the Companies Act 2006, to apply to cancel trading of Andor’s shares on AIM and to re-register Andor as a private company.⁠[19]

In its interim management statement of February 13, 2014 Oxford Instruments said the £175 million acquisition was funded from existing cash, a new £100 million revolving facility and a £60 million term facility provided by a banking club of HSBC, Santander and RBS.⁠[20]

The acquisition was completed in February 2014, and trading of Andor’s shares on AIM was set to be cancelled on February 21. On March 18, 2014 the company’s name changed from Andor Technology plc to Andor Technology Limited.⁠[21][3]

On April 1, 2014 Andor announced that its director of engineering, Gary Wilmot, had been named managing director; Conor Walsh stepped down officially on May 1, 2014 after 12 years with the company, first as finance director and company secretary and then for seven years as chief executive. Wilmot had joined Andor in 2007, roughly tripled the engineering team and led development of products including the Neo high-performance CMOS camera.⁠[22]

On January 10, 2024 Oxford Instruments announced the acquisition of First Light Imaging SAS, a scientific camera company near Aix-en-Provence, France, for an initial €15.7 million in cash on a cash-free, debt-free basis, plus up to €3 million in cash depending on trading over the 12 months after completion. Founded in 2011, First Light makes high-speed, low-noise infrared and visible cameras for astronomy and life sciences and had estimated 2023 revenue of €8.0 million; it became part of Oxford Instruments Andor.⁠[23]

In the year ended March 31, 2025 Oxford Instruments recognised a £26.0 million goodwill impairment for the Andor cash-generating unit, attributing it to continued weakness in healthcare and life science markets, lost revenue in China and operational challenges with certain product lines. The unit’s goodwill fell to £40.9 million from £67.0 million (restated) at March 31, 2024.⁠[24]

The company describes its products as EMCCD, sCMOS and CCD scientific cameras; Czerny-Turner and Echelle spectrographs with detectors from ultraviolet to short-wave infrared; the Dragonfly spinning disk confocal system, the BC43 benchtop confocal microscope and photostimulation tools; Imaris image analysis software and control software such as Solis; and customisable OEM products for scientific and industrial manufacturers.⁠[8]

The company states that it offers more than 70 product solutions to about 10,000 customers in 55 countries, with about 400 staff in 16 offices worldwide, including the United Kingdom, China, Japan and the United States.⁠[8]

Andor’s main legal entity is Andor Technology Limited (company number NI022466), registered at 7 Millennium Way, Springvale Business Park, Belfast, and classified under the manufacture of optical precision instruments; its latest accounts were made up to March 31, 2025.⁠[3]

The company states that Andor joined the Oxford Instruments group in 2014 and is one of the group’s seven businesses. Companies House lists Oxford Instruments Nanotechnology Tools Holdings Limited as the person with significant control of Andor Technology Limited, holding 75 percent or more of the shares and voting rights and the right to appoint or remove directors.⁠[8][25]

As of November 2026 Companies House listed the active directors of Andor Technology Limited as Stephanie Anne Quinn (from June 13, 2014), Andrew Dennis (from August 3, 2015), Christian Lang (from April 19, 2025) and Robert Fulford (from May 6, 2026), with Sarah Harvey as company secretary (from May 11, 2026). Co-founder Donal Denvir resigned as a director on April 1, 2022.⁠[10]

QUBISQUBISQUBIS is the commercialisation and spin-out investment company of Queen’s University Belfast, founded in 1984 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. It forms and holds stakes in university spin-out companies; Queen’s spin-outs that have listed on the London Stock Exchange include Kainos, Andor Technology and Fusion Antibodies.Open the full entry, the commercialisation company of Queen’s University Belfast, lists “Andor Ltd” under 1990 in its spin-out timeline and includes Oxford Instruments’ acquisition of Andor Technology among its success stories.⁠[26][27]

Andor Technology: Official website: https://andor.oxinst.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[28]