Filtronic PLC Trading Update and Notice of Results (4001I)

TIDMFTC

RNS Number : 4001I

Filtronic PLC

19 June 2017

19 June 2017

Filtronic plc (the "Group")

Trading Update and Notice of Results

Filtronic plc (AIM: FTC), the designer and manufacturer of microwave electronics products for the wireless telecoms infrastructure and adjacent markets is pleased to provide the following trading update for the 12-month period to 31 May 2017 ("FY2017").

Trading during the fourth quarter continued in line with the market guidance provided in the Trading Update on 12 May 2017. The Board therefore expects, subject to audit, to report Group revenue of approximately GBP35.4m (2016: GBP13.6m) and operating profit before amortisation of intangibles of approximately GBP1.7m (2016: GBP6.8m operating loss before amortisation of intangibles). The Group had net cash of GBP2.6m as at 31 May 2017 (2016: net debt GBP0.3m).

Filtronic Wireless

The Filtronic Wireless business more than tripled sales revenue in the year to GBP30.5m (2016: GBP9.0m). The final quarter included a strong recovery of filter products revenue with customers serving our two main markets; telecommunications infrastructure and public safety communications. Demand in the telecommunications infrastructure market is inherently difficult to predict, but we anticipate the level of activity seen in the fourth quarter of FY2017 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.

Filtronic Broadband

Sales revenue in our Filtronic Broadband business was approximately GBP4.9m for the year (2016: GBP4.6m) giving year on year sales growth of 7%. The weakness seen in Filtronic Broadband during the second half of FY2017 was attributable to a decrease in demand from our main customer for Orpheus, our current generation E-Band backhaul transceiver product. While we do not anticipate demand recovering from this particular customer we are pleased to confirm that we have secured new customers for Orpheus and derivative variants. We have also seen a recovery in demand for legacy multi-chip packages and with production ramping for the previously announced, high margin, defence and aerospace contract win in December 2016, we are confident that Filtronic Broadband is now well positioned for a period of sustained improvement and a return to profitability in FY2018.

Notice of Results

The results for the financial year ended 31 May 2017 will be announced on 1 August 2017.

Rob Smith, CEO of Filtronic plc, commented: "Tremendous progress was made through FY2017 that has resulted in the Group achieving 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".

Enquiries:

 
 Filtronic plc                    Tel. [phone] 
 Rob Smith (CEO)                  Tel. [phone] 
 Michael Tyerman (Finance         Tel. [phone] 
  Director) 
 
 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

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June 19, 2017 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)