X-RAY technology specialist Bede is shedding a tenth of its workforce following disappointing first-half orders.

Bede, which employs about 100 at its headquarters on the Belmont Industrial Estate, near Durham City, is in the process of shedding 11 jobs as it strives to make cost savings of £1m a year.

The company lost a quarter of its market value earlier this month after issuing a profits warning and said it was looking at its cost base.

Bede said yesterday it made a pre-tax loss of £1.5m during the first half, despite £5.2m in revenues - five times more than its turnover in the same period last year.

Finance director David Hall said: "The market we serve is still a big market and we are trying to introduce a new technology to this market.

"When they cut down on capital expenditure, it is things like our product that suffer.

"But we still believe very firmly in the opportunities in the market.

"We are now aiming to make cost savings and concentrate more on marketing so we can bring in more orders."

The company had been hoping to be in profit this year, and as recently as May announced plans to double turnover and predicted annual profits would reach £500,000.

Bede designs and makes specialist x-ray instruments and related software used by manufacturers to monitor production in the compound and silicon semiconductor markets.

It hoped the market would grow because manufacturers are increasingly using its products, which make semiconductor manufacturing more accurate and efficient.

The group was founded in 1978 by Professor Brian Tanner and three colleagues from the University of Durham, to supply scientific instruments to universities.

It now consists of Bede Scientific Instruments, in Durham, Bede Scientific Incorporated, in Denver, US, Bede Asia, in Shanghai, and Reflex, in Prague.

The group also said its non-executive chairman, Stuart McIntosh, planned to devote more time to Bede after retiring from an executive role with his previous employer.