Filtronic www.filtronic.com reports that the end of a major contract resulted in a loss-making first half. For the six months to the end of November, the Shipley-based designer and manufacturer of microwave electronics products for the wireless telecoms infrastructure market reported revenues of £7.3 million, compared with £20.1 million for the same period last year.

Pre-tax losses stood at £5.3 million, compared to pre-tax profits of £93,000 previously. Half of this was attributed to Filtronic’s wireless business, where sales fell from £16.5 million to £3.9 million following the completion of a TV interference mitigation-filter contract.

It said the figures were also the result of a slower-than-anticipated development of new-product sales to OEM customers, where the company is focusing its business development strategy.

Chairman Howard Ford said: “While we are disappointed with the sales performance in the first half and expect the upturn in the second half to be later than originally planned, we remain confident in our strategy and in the sales growth potential from the OEM products we have developed — and are continuing to develop — leading to a much-improved trading performance over the medium term.”