A COUNTY Durham technology firm is pushing on to widen its customer base and product range after “tremendous progress” left it primed to reverse a financial loss, its boss has revealed.

Filtronic expects to more than double annual group revenues to £35.4m and report an operating profit of around £1.7m.

The optimism comes just days after the company told The Northern Echo it was in talks with potential customers, which could create jobs at its base on Sedgefield’s NetPark.

The upbeat outlook is also a reflection of officials’ work to turn around the business after delays to product introductions previously caused losses and forced the firm into trimming its workforce.

According to latest results, released today (Monday, June 19), the company expects 12-month revenues to far exceed last year’s £13.6m, with its £1.7m operating profit before amortisation of intangibles outshining an equivalent £6.8m deficit a year ago.

Bosses have been able to upgrade their financial outlook after good demand across its wireless division, which compensated for short-term weakness in Filtronic’s broadband operation.

The latter employs scores of staff at NetPark and is known for developing the Orpheus e-band transceiver, which increases the amount of data phone networks can carry.

Rob Smith, chief executive, said the division recorded sales revenue of £4.9m in the year, which was up from the £4.6m in the previous 12 months.

The figure was tempered by weakness in the second half of the year following slacker demand from one customer, though Mr Smith reiterated the promise of a previously revealed £13m national security deal to supply high-frequency modules to a defence equipment maker for aerospace work out of NetPark.

He said: “Tremendous progress was made through the 2017 financial year 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 the business is more robust.

“Weakness in broadband was attributable to a decrease in demand from our main customer for Orpheus but, while we do not anticipate demand recovering from this customer, we have secured new customers for Orpheus and variants.

“With production ramping for the defence and aerospace contract, we are confident broadband is now well positioned for a period of sustained improvement.”

Mr Smith previously told the Echo that Filtronic plans to build on its momentum by recruiting the next generation at its County Durham base.

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

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

He also revealed its recent successes have been helped by US public safety work through a Leeds-based sister wireless division.

Speaking last month, he said: “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 and we are looking to add value to the business.”