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                                                                   EXHIBIT 99.4

                                                                  PRESS RELEASE

BARRY KAPLAN ASSOCIATES                           FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
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623 River Road, Fair Haven, New Jersey 07704                      (908)747-0702
                                                              FAX (908)758-1837
 
                                        PRESS CONTACT:  Barry S. Kaplan
                                                        (908)747-0702
                                        COMPANY CONTACT:



                 SMTEK, INC. ACQUISITION COMPLETE BY DDL

TIGARD, OR, January 12, 1996--DDL Electronics Inc. (NYSE: DDL) today announced
that it has acquired 100 percent of the shares of SMTEK,Inc. This new wholly 
owned subsidiary of DDL, is a producer of printed circuit boards utilizing 
surface mount technology at its state-of-the-art facility in Southern 
California. SMTEK specializes in full production implementation of circuit 
boards, from analysis and design to manufacture. Terms of the acquisition were
$6,798,738 in cash and 1,000,000 shares of DDL common stock.

Gregory L. Horton, President and Chief Executive of the nine year old SMTEK, 
Inc. stated, "We are pleased to join forces with DDL. Our goal is to increase 
our size through the capital provided by DDL. We have an excellent customer 
base, an order backlog of $33,000,000, a fully automated robotic assembly line
and a team with solid experience. As a private company, we could not raise 
sufficient capital for expansion. Now, with the financing capabilities of DDL,
we anticipate enhanced growth and the ability to break through the glass 
ceiling into the upper levels of our industry. We see excellent synergistic 
compatibilities with DDL'S surface mount and printed circuit board facilities 
in Northern Ireland. SMTEK can provide sophisticated front end design 
capability to the Irish facilities and they provide us a high quality, low 
production cost gateway to the European market."

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