Filtronic Loses CEO - Posts Operating Loss

The CEO of the wireless equipment manufacturer, Filtronic resigned yesterday following an unexpectedly large loss for the first half of the financial year. Professor John Roulston, Chief Executive Officer, has resigned from the company by mutual agreement with the Board with immediate effect. David Rhodes has stepped down as Chairman in order to serve as Group CEO.

The company reported operating losses of US$5.1 million, a drop of US$7.4 million on the same period last year. The pre-tax loss was US$9.9 million, compared with a profit of US$6.2 million the year before.

Rhys Williams, the Senior Non-Executive Director, will assume the Chairmanship on a temporary basis until such time as a new Chairman is recruited.

Professor J. David Rhodes said: "Wireless Infrastructure is experiencing a flat market in the second half of the financial year with operating margins for the core transmit / receive filters at over 10%. Revenue growth awaits some delayed contracts and new OEM platforms moving into production.

Our market driven approach to Power Amplifiers is gaining traction and will be a growth mechanism in the coming financial year. New products in remote radio heads for 3G and WiMAX, some of which are at the prototype stage, will give growth in 2007."

Posted to the site on 31st January 2006