A TECHNOLOGY company will press on to secure its next generation after public safety work provided a financial lift, The Northern Echo can reveal.

Filtronic is firming up plans to recruit junior engineers and apprentices at a County Durham base.

The business operates its broadband division from a site on Sedgefield’s NetPark, which is known for developing an e-band transceiver capable of increasing data limits across phone networks.

The base employs in excess of 50 staff and Rob Smith, chief executive, has confirmed the company hopes to add to the number with young starters after a spike in work left annual revenues and profits primed to go beyond market expectations.

He said: “We have got a pipeline of products and I am very happy with the progress to date, but we need to do more.

“We have a plan, we are working on it and are looking at junior engineers and apprentices.

“We are doing the small things – they may seem dull and boring – but they are the things that make the difference.”

The business expects group sales to stand at around £35m for the year ending May 31, whereupon the Sedgefield plant will begin work on a £13m national security deal to supply high-frequency modules to a defence equipment maker for aerospace work.

That project is one of a cyclical telecoms sector, is helping the business ride market peaks and troughs.

Reacting to its improving bottom line, he said the company was getting stronger, revealing its recent successes have been helped by US public safety work through a Leeds-based sister wireless division.

He told the Echo: “It has come from a variety of customers and products, which is the very pleasing thing.

“One of the areas where we have seen a lot of growth this year has been in the public safety network, such as telecoms networks dedicated to emergency services in the US.

“Going back to 9/11, one of the issues highlighted was that the different networks were affected, making communication between the fire and police services very difficult.

“One of the actions was to introduce changes for public safety and that has been going on for some time.

“But there is an ongoing programme to refurbish it and we are benefiting.

“Telecoms will always be a big market for us, but there are different sectors we are pursuing and we are looking to add value to the business.

“It is an ongoing process; we are looking for additional business and looking to retain business.

“What we can see coming is a much richer period and we are confident.”

Late last year, Filtronic’s finance director, Michael Tyerman, told the Echo that Filtronic’s renaissance had been “pretty phenomenal”.

He added: “Broadband feels a much healthier business; the beauty of defence and aerospace work is that it is quite long-term.

“We’ve got a much stronger pipeline.

“A lot of the hard work we did in the turnaround years, we are getting the fruits of that now.

“We were very early to the party, we started development back in 2009 on e-band, and what we are seeing now is the market really starting to take it up. Broadband feels much better positioned to be successful.”