Filtronic PLC Trading Update and Notice of Results (8759Q)

TIDMFTC

RNS Number : 8759Q

Filtronic PLC

05 December 2016

Filtronic plc ("the Company")

Trading Update and Notice of Results

Trading in-line with Expectations

Filtronic plc (AIM: FTC), the designer and manufacturer of microwave electronics products for the wireless telecoms infrastructure market and adjacent markets, is pleased to announce its trading update for the six months ended 30 November 2016.

Trading Update

The Company traded strongly in the first half of its financial year and expects to report unaudited revenues for the period of GBP21.6m (FY2016: GBP4.5m), comprising Filtronic Wireless at GBP18.7m (FY2016: GBP1.9m) and Filtronic Broadband at GBP2.9m (FY2016: GBP2.6m). The net cash balance at the period end was GBP0.7m (FY2016: net debt of GBP0.4m).

The improved financial performance was primarily driven by increased sales of our new ultra wide band integrated antennas to our lead customer, following the successful product launch in FY2016, together with improving demand for our mmWave backhaul products and base-station filters.

As noted in the trading statement made on 29 September 2016, whilst the Board is pleased with the progress made and remains confident on the long-term prospects for the business, it remains mindful that sales are currently concentrated on a small number of customers. Roll-out programmes for wireless infrastructure projects are naturally very lumpy and we expect that visibility on the pattern of customer orders will be limited until our antenna products gain greater traction across the broader market.

Filtronic Wireless

Filtronic Wireless has strengthened its sales teams across EMEA and North America to target opportunities with mobile network operators and is now seeing a growing pipeline of new business opportunities. Over the coming months, we will also be expanding the number of product variants to address new radio frequency releases and the ongoing demand for densification of mobile networks. Building business with new customers and the introduction of new products will take time and it is anticipated we will not realise any appreciable sales from these new initiatives until FY2018.

Filtronic Broadband

Filtronic Broadband continues to see incremental growth in sales of Orpheus, the Company's latest generation of E-band transceivers, with strong demand from our lead customer. A key objective for Filtronic Broadband has been to diversify its customer base and product offering and to this end, we are working with several new potential customers for Orpheus in both telecommunications backhaul and adjacent markets. In addition to E-band transceiver sales, Filtronic Broadband is also gaining traction in the design and manufacture of bespoke filters and the provision of specialist high-frequency assembly and test services for the defence and aerospace markets. Whilst the early orders we have received for these offerings are modest in size, they represent long-term platform business opportunities that will make an increasingly significant contribution to Filtronic Broadband's performance.

Notice of results

It is expected the Company will publish its half year results on 30 January 2017.

Enquiries:

 
 Filtronic plc                    Tel. [phone] 
 Rob Smith (CEO) 
 Michael Tyerman (FD) 
 Maura Moynihan (Company          Tel. [phone] 
  Secretary) 
 
 Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited      Tel. [phone] 
 Dominic Morley / Alina Vaskina 
  (Corporate Finance) 
  Erik Anderson / Tom Salvesen 
  (Corporate Broking) 
 
 Walbrook PR Limited              Tel. [phone] or 
                                   [e-mail] 
 Paul Cornelius                   Mob. [phone] 
  Helen Cresswell                  Mob. [phone] 
 

Notes:

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

MSCEAKAAELLKFFF

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 05, 2016 02:44 ET (07:44 GMT)