A CRAZE for capturing cartoon characters on mobile phones can be the catalyst for a technology firm to accelerate its transformation, bosses have said.

Filtronic says Pokémon Go, which sees gamers use satellite navigation to catch fictional creatures in streets and parks, can provide fresh impetus.

The company is known for e-band transceivers, which increase the amount of data phone networks can carry, and says Pokémon is the perfect platform to show off its capabilities on the speedy 4G connecting system.

Officials at the business, based on NetPark, in Sedgefield, County Durham, spoke of their ambitions after revealing the firm had trimmed losses in the year to May 31.

According to latest figures, revenues were down on 12 months ago at £13.6m, with pre-tax losses falling from £11m to £7m.

The company was helped by stronger demand in the latter half of its financial year, when a lucrative deal to help a US customer extend telecoms data through the Sedgefield-crafted Orpheus transceiver was augmented by European work on antennas to increase mobile phone masts’ performances.

Rob Smith, chief executive, who previously said Filtronic hopes to benefit from rising WiFi demand on aeroplanes and trains, said the company was in a prime position to continue its growth.

Last year, the firm, which employs about 65 workers at Sedgefield, was forced to cut a handful of UK-based jobs in a £2m cost-cutting drive due to lower revenues, caused in part by the timings of product introductions.

However, Mr Smith said Filtronic, which is now recruiting engineers and managers at Sedgefield, said the landscape had changed.

He told The Northern Echo: “It has been a turnaround year; sales were appallingly low in the first half and losses were unacceptably high.

“But we have moved on from that point and we did 65 per cent of our sales in the second half and about 50 per cent were in the fourth quarter.

“It is building momentum and it’s now all about continuing that through 2017.

“We are very pleased with the progress on Orpheus and the challenge is now to convert our 150 evaluation units (that are with clients) into production.”

Mr Smith said phone and technology users are getting increasingly demanding in their requirements, highlighting the Pokémon game as an example, which means companies are turning to Filtronic’s goods.

He said such reliance was pleasing, adding it puts the company in a strong position to assess the implications of next generation, faster 5G networks. He said: “There is an expectation you can get 4G and that you are going to get it wherever you roam.

“A good example of that is Pokémon Go, where you get people walking around with their phones trying to catch the Pokémon.

“To do that, you have to have 4G service and it needs to be on all the time.

“When we were just happy to make telephone calls on our phones, if the line dropped we may have moaned about it but we called bank and continued the call.

“But the expectation now is that the service won’t drop.

“5G is a little bit beyond the horizon but we are starting to see customers putting teams together and doing some of the fundamental analysis.

“We think we know where they are going and believe we are well positioned with the work we are doing in Sedgefield.

“We need the specifications and will have to partner with customers to make sure we are not spending at a risk.”

Mr Smith also said Filtronic had not been affected in the short-term by the Brexit vote, though he said it would continue monitoring Britain’s departure from the EU.

He added: “We are waiting to find out what it means.

“We are a global company, so aren’t dependent on the UK economy per se, but we are exposed if there is a knock-on effect in other jurisdictions.

“At the moment we (are all) speculating on what might happen.”