Member Article

Job losses at Filtronic despite profits

Mobile electronics firm Filtronic has cut some of its North East workforce despite seeing an increase in operating profits.

The Yorkshire-based company, which has shed 16 of its 100 employees at the threatened RFMD factory on Aycliffe Business Park in County Durham, says pre-tax profits for the year ending May 2013 were at £238,000, compared to a loss of £1.63m last year.

Filtronic, a designer and manufacturer of microwave electronics products for the wireless telecoms infrastructure market, saw an increase of 143 per cent in its wireless business.

However, turnover on the broadband side of the business was 38 per cent down on 2012 - resulting in 16 axed jobs at its Aycliffe Business Park factory.

The company said this was “broadly in line with expectations”.

Chairman Howard Ford said: “The increasing demand for mobile data supports our strategy of becoming a key equipment provider for the wireless telecommunications market.

“The board is confident that our underlying technology and innovation will deliver long-term growth.

“As our customer base and product offering broaden, we believe that we are well positioned to take advantage of the huge opportunities that exist for the provision of LTE/4G services.” The year produced revenue of £40m. This included £31.9m (2012 £13.1m) for the wireless business and £8.1m (2012 £13.0m) for the broadband business.

Filtronic, which employs 175 people, said: “The group continues to invest in wireless engineering, sales and marketing resources in order to support existing programmes and to develop additional products to support customers upgrading their 3G and 4G mobile networks.

“Mobile data traffic doubled during 2012 and continues to grow rapidly. The group has increased profitability and continues to execute its strategy for growth by expanding its addressable market with a broader range of products and a more diversified customer base.”

Filtronic said the board is mindful of its plans and requirements to achieve continued longer term growth and has therefore decided to recommend no annual dividend in respect of the financial year just ended.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Martin Walker .