Investments in its North East factory have helped radio frequency communications specialist Filtronic to boost earnings expectations.
The County Durham-based maker of equipment for the satellite industry says its decision to ramp-up production capacity via a new base at the NETPark site will result in stronger revenue and adjusted Ebitda in the second half of 2025. It will put the London-listed business on track to beat current market expectations for this financial year and the next.
Filtronic is now expected to book £55m revenue this year, where expectations had been closer to £50m. Bosses say the trading momentum is likely to carry through to the firm's 2026 financial year as new contracts emerge with new and existing customers.
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Nat Edington, chief executive officer, said: "We are very pleased with the substantial progress we've made and the positive impact it's having on our financial performance. The team has worked tirelessly to bring new programmes to fruition across the defence and space markets. Our continued investment in engineering and manufacturing has positioned us to meet growing demand, and we are confident in the trajectory of the business as we scale to capitalise on future opportunities."
Earlier this year, Filtronic laid out growth of its relationship with US rocket company SpaceX, which it signed a landmark deal with last year, taking it from a £16m turnover company to one that it is expected to reach more than £55m this year.
In March, Filtronic said its work with Elon Musk's high profile business has been expanded to allow for more orders and deeper collaboration between the two companies. Under the agreements, the North East manufacturer has been signed up to supply advanced E-band SSPA modules for use in SpaceX's Starlink constellation, which provides high-speed, low-latency internet to users across the world, often in hard to reach places.
And last month, Filtronic announced a new contract to develop what it called cutting edge feeder link technology for the European Space Agency (ESA) and Viasat's Direct-to-Device initiative. The work on this next-generation satellite network is part of efforts to bring 5G non-terrestrial services directly to handheld devices.
Filtronic's contract falls under the ESA's Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES 4.0), a programme that is intended to spur research and development within ESA's Connectivity and Secure Communications directorate. Together, the partners are looking to design and procure an "open architecture" low earth orbit satellite network that can deliver 5G to mobiles.