Shipley firm Filtronic, which produces electronics for the mobile phone and defence industries, made an interim net profit of £900,000 in the six months to November.

This was less than the £75.8 million recorded at the last half-year when profits were boosted through the sale of businesses and surplus properties.

The group has undergone changes in recent years and in 2006 sold the bulk of its wireless infrastructure to a US company for £184m in cash and shares.

In November the former headquarters building in Saltaire, Shipley, was sold for £5.8m and in December the company sold a compound semiconductor business for £12.5m to US-based RF Micro Devices.

The group is also in the final stages of restructuring its pension scheme which is closed to new staff. This will involve additional funding of £30m and the eventual sale to a third party.

Filtronic now focuses on producing transmission and receiver technology for mobile phones and on defence-related electronics. The bulk of the defence work is concentrated at its Shipley headquarters which employs around 200 staff.

Chief executive, Charles Hindson, said the orders for the defence business were progressing satisfactorily and it was showing an improvement in trading.

The Point to Point mobile phone business, having seen growth in the first half, was expected to trade at a lower level.

Priorities for the second half of this year were the conclusion of the pension scheme restructuring, return of cash to shareholders and maximising shareholder value. The group had increased its cash balances to £117 million, compared with £64 million the previous year, and was looking to return more cash to shareholders through a special dividend by the end of the financial year. There is no interim dividend.

Financial highlights included a 51 per cent increase in revenue from its continuing operations which rose from £18 million to £27.2 million; and an operating profit before exceptional items of £2.3 million from the continuing operations, compared with a loss of £1.7 million the previous year. Pre-tax profits at the continuing businesses were £4.1m (against £5.6m in 2006) but this was offset by losses of £3.2m from the discontinued businesses leaving the net profit of £900,000.

Francois Meunier, head of European technology research at brokers Cazenove, said the performance of the point to point business was better than expected at the beginning of the financial year with sales rising. The defence business had also seen an improvement with half-year profits of £600,000.