Robust sales performance at listed communications business

Shipley-based communications specialist Filtronic has reported sales revenues of £7.1m (H1 2020: £7.5m) in its half year results for the six months ended 30 November 2020.

Over the same period the business – which designs and makes of products for the communications, wireless telecom and aerospace & defence markets – also reported a pre-tax loss of £143,000 (H1 2020: £671,000).

Filtronic achieved  an operating profit of £0.1m (H1 2020: £0.3m) and an adjusted EBITDA of £0.6m (H1 2020: £0.6m).

Highlights for the period included the award of a follow-on order for a two-year defence contract.

This deal is with a European defence equipment supplier to manufacture its advanced radar transmit-receive modules, valued at £4.9m.

Filtronic adds it has remained fully operational throughout the Covid-19 crisis.

It says the pandemic “significantly constrained” its new business acquisition activities and to counter this, it has been developing other ways to engage with new customers.

The business has strengthened its sales channels in North America and is in the process of appointing further representatives to its network to increase coverage of the North American and European markets and gain access to more clients.

Company chairman, Reg Gott, said: “Whilst the impact of Covid-19 on the outlook remains uncertain, the fundamentals of the Group remain intact with year-on-year growth of EBITDA anticipated for FY2021 despite the disruption we are seeing in the wider economy.

“The broadening of the customer base is the key strategic objective of the Group but with travel restrictions constraining commercial engagement this has proved more challenging to achieve.

“Despite this, the Group has actively progressed its strategy to develop the channels to market across multiple territories and is currently in the early stages of executing the marketing plan to raise the profile of the company and build the brand in existing and adjacent markets.

“The recent contract win with a new defence OEM customer underlines the technical strength within our engineering function and our ability to rapidly deliver first class technical proposals, a competitive advantage that positions us well to win other opportunities in this market.”