Telecoms tech firm Filtronic says it expects to see profits halve this financial year, but says supply chain issues have finally eased.
The NETPark firm, which also has bases in Leeds and Maryland in the US, has issued a full-year trading update, saying it expects to post revenue of £16.3m, down on last year’s £17.1m, and adjusted Ebitda of around £1.3m, less that half the 2022 figure of £2.7m. Filtronic, which designs and manufactures products for the aerospace, defence, telecoms infrastructure and critical communications markets, says the figures are in the line with market expectations, adding “positive news” that supply chain issues that have affected the business for some time, eased in the final quarter of the financial year.
It added that its opportunity pipeline continues to build, and two new contracts totalling £1m have been announced post year end. The company said: “ The FY2023 full year results are a testament to the ability of the business to operate with agility and speed during uncertain times. Having experienced component shortages in the year, which constrained revenue generation, we were able to execute a quick ramp of production once supply was restored whilst continuing to scale the business to respond to the opportunities that are emerging for mmWave RF technology.”
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It said work in the low earth orbit (LEO) space market has exceeded its expectations, in terms of both the size of the opportunity and the speed of deployment. It is now working with leading players in the field and has has secured its first production order for one of its products during the second half of the year.
It added: “We are committed to building the organisation necessary to execute our technology roadmap and continue to engage with the major industry players and relevant government agencies.”
The firm said demand for telecommunication infrastructure products increased steadily throughout the year with the opening of the newly licenced Indian market offsetting the abrupt closure of the Russian 5G rollout last year. It received two new contract wins, each worth £500,000 for products going into private telecommunications networks this month.
Meanwhile, it says the conflict in Ukraine and increased geopolitical tensions haved pushed the focus onto the aerospace and defence market during the year, and that it has made good progress with that segment of business.
Richard Gibbs, chief executive officer, said: “Throughout the year our primary markets have remained robust, and we enter the new financial year with a strong order book, a significant number of promising development programmes and opportunity pipeline that has doubled during the course of the last year. Notwithstanding the disruptions caused by shortages of electronic components, we believe that we are continuing to make the right investments in the business to capitalise on the exciting near-term opportunities in our core markets. We have been encouraged by the closing of two new telecoms infrastructure contracts early in our new trading year and will look to build further momentum as the year progresses.”
