Problems with its American subsidiary left Bradford electronics firm Filtronic with a pre-tax loss in its interim results.

But chairman Professor David Rhodes said the position would be completely different when the full-year results come out in August.

The firm, which struggled after its American management failed to win major contracts in the States, sent in a team of new bosses from the UK to sort out the problem last year.

But Filtronic was left with a pre-tax loss of £1.5 million to cope with in today's interim results - compared with last time's profit of £5.7 million.

And early trading on the London Stock Exchange saw Filtronic's shares fall by 60p to 1722p after the results announcement was made.

The group, which produces a wide range of electronic equipment, saw sales rise by 13.6 per cent to £93.9 million compared with £82.7 million previously. The group's profitability was also cut because of the £1.7 million cost of taking over the former Fujitsu factory in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

But all is not gloom as the firm, which has its headquarters in Saltaire, is now preparing to be ahead of the game in mobile phone technology - which will boost its results later in the year.

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