AN electronics company has struck a near £5 million contract with a major European defence equipment manufacturer.

Filtronic, based near Leeds-Bradford Airport in Yeadon, designs and manufactures microwave electronics products for the wireless telecommunications infrastructure market and other similar markets.

Its Filtronic Broadband business has secured its second multi-year supply agreement with the defence manufacturer, for the supply of specialist high-frequency transmit and receive modules for a secret defence-related aerospace project.

The three-year agreement is expected to generate revenues totalling about £4.8m.

The first agreement, secured in the second half of the 2016/17 financial year is expected to bring in £13m.

Production of the modules will take place at Filtronic’s manufacturing plant in Sedgefield, County Durham, with production expected to start next year.

Chief executive Rob Smith said: “We are delighted to have been selected to work on this project.

“This is Filtronic Broadband’s second major business win in the defence and aerospace sector and along with other smaller contracts, demonstrates our commitment to diversify the customer base and markets we serve, and to become a major supplier of advanced communications components and sub-systems to this and other adjacent markets.”

This latest agreement comes after Filtronic, which started in Shipley before moving to Yeadon, announced a return to profitability earlier this year with revenues increasing by 160 per cent to reach £35.4m.

The company had a strong finish to the 2016/17 financial year, with an operating profit of £1.7m, compared with a £7m operating loss the year before.

Success in the financial year was initially down to sales of ultra-wide band integrated antennas, backed up by a growth in demand for a broader range of filter products across the telecommunications and public safety markets.

Reg Gott, chairman, said: “Filtronic has made excellent progress over the past year toward our key strategic objectives of broadening our customer base and expanding our product portfolio in order to widen our addressable market and return the company to profit.”