MANUFACTURER Filtronic is now “better positioned” to return to operational profitability after a difficult two years, but its chairman admitted it is “difficult to predict exactly when”.
The Yeadon-based business, which designs and manufactures products for the wireless telecoms infrastructure market, lost £11m in the year to May 2015 after sales fell by nearly half.
It has now announced half-year pre-tax losses of £4.27m, for the six months to November 2015, with sales down by a further 39% to £4.47m.
Filtronic chairman Reg Gott said: “Notwithstanding the disappointing financial performance for the six months ended 30 November 2015, I am pleased with the progress now being made on all fronts to deliver the recovery strategy.
“These are however just the first steps towards returning the company to profitability. Flawless delivery of our recent new orders is essential to this process.
“Although it is difficult to predict exactly when we will return to operating profitability, I am confident that we are now better positioned to do so than we have been for some time.”
The business has recently secured two key milestone orders – a £2.7m deal for its antennas from an unnamed European OEM and a £1.3m contract to supply a “major” US multinational.
Last year it stepped down from the Main Market to the Alternative Investment Market. Its shares closed last night at 5.6p, down more than 70% in a year, giving the business a market cap value of £11.85m.
