The boss of electronics giant Filtronic today explained the reasons behind the sale of the company's largest division.

Chief executive Professor David Rhodes said the deal, which could be worth as much as £230 million, was being struck at a time in the market when it would bring maximum benefits to both shareholders and staff.

As reported in yesterday's Telegraph & Argus, the Shipley-based firm is holding talks to sell off its operations in China, America and Hungary to American firm Powerwave Technologies.

The operations being sold are power amplifiers and transmit/receive modules components which help reduce distortion between mobile phones and base stations.

Mr Rhodes said these operations, which account for around 80 per cent of the firm's sales, had become too big for Filtronic to manage, prompting the decision to put them up for sale.

The move will affect around 250 Bradford employees who work on product design. Their jobs are expected to be transferred to the new owner.

Revenue generated from the sales will then be distributed among shareholders and invested back into the company's other divisions.

Professor Rhodes said: "It is the right time to make the sale. Our business is not of the size sufficient to support these ventures and it's the time for the shareholders and our employees that we sell.

"The value of the sale is such that it is well in excess of the total value of the company itself."

Mr Rhodes said the remaining divisions within the company, which would benefit from cash generated from the sale, "still needed to be determined".

He said he was not sure whether it would result in the company no longer being listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Following the announcement, shares in the company rose.

Filtronic has been undergoing an extensive period of restructuring in the past two years at its two bases in Shipley, on Salt Mills Road, and the Royal London Industrial Estate.

Mr Rhodes, who founded the company, took over from Professor John Roulston in January following the announcement of half-year losses of £2.9 million in the period up to November 2005.

e-mail: mark.casci@bradford.newsquest.co.uk