Filtronic's wireless division saw sales triple to £30.5m last year
Companies: Filtronic plc
AIM-listed electronics manufacturer Filtronic says it has swung to a profit in its final results, due out 1 August, thanks to significant growth in revenues and a tripling of Filtronic Wireless sales.
Trading for the last quarter of the year was in line with expectations, with revenues up more than 160% year-on-year at £35.4m. Operating profit before amortisation was £1.7m, up from a loss of £6.8m last year.
The big performer for Filtronic was its wireless division, which saw sales triple to £30.5m. Filtronic said that while demand in the telco infrastructure market is difficult to predict, it was anticipating current momentum in sales to continue into the first quarter of FY2018.
"The opportunity pipeline for our antenna products continues to expand, and despite lower demand in the second half of FY2017, we have recently secured some new orders which we expect to fulfill in the next couple of months. Sales of antennas are expected to remain lumpy until we widen our customer base but field trials have commenced with two mobile network operators that we hope will lead to new contract wins during FY2018 thereby reducing the dependence on our single OEM customer."
Performance in its broadband division was flat year-on-year, with weakness seen during the year attributed to a decrease in demand from customers.
CEO Rob Smith said it had been a tremendous year for the company, with progress made in both profitability and cash generation:
"We are mindful that our revenues have historically been very concentrated and we are working hard to broaden our customer base and product range so that the business is more robust".
Shares in Filtronic rose 5% shortly after opening on Monday.