High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Racal Electronics plc was once the third-largest British electronics firm. Listed on the London Stock Exchange and once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, Racal was a diversified company, offering products including: as voice and data recorders; point of sale terminals; laboratory instruments; military electronics, including radio and radar. At its height, it operated throughout 110 countries world-wide and employed over 30,000 people. It was the parent company of Vodafone, before the mobile telephony provider was sold in 1991. Racal was purchased by Thomson-CSF (now Thales Group) in 2000, thereby giving the French firm access to the lucrative UK defence and armaments market.