Filtronic reveals plans for AIM admission

In conjunction with the placing, Filtronic’s board is proposing to cancel the listing of the company’s ordinary shares from the main market and to apply for admission to trading on AIM.

The company also said that the current structure of the board would benefit from simplification following the move to AIM, by reducing the number of non-executive directors.

In a statement, the company said: “Graham Meek and Howard Ford have each informed the company that they intend therefore not to stand for re-election as non-executive directors at the forthcoming AGM.

“The board would like to thank the retiring non-executive directors for their contributions to the board and to the company, and to wish them well for the future.

“Following the departure of Howard Ford, Reg Gott has agreed to replace him as chairman. The board intends in due course to appoint a separate finance director, to enable Rob Smith to focus solely on his role as chief executive officer.”

In a statement, Filtronic said: “AIM is a market appropriate for a company of Filtronic’s size, and is a market which should help attract new investors, providing a platform to promote the company and trading in its shares.

“AIM offers greater flexibility with regard to potential future corporate transactions and should enable the company to agree and execute certain transactions more quickly and cost effectively than a company on the Official List.

“In particular, once on AIM, the company would have the ability to raise equity finance from institutional investors without the need to produce a prospectus.”

Earlier this month, Filtronic said it had sorted out the technical issues with its integrated antenna product.

The Leeds-based company said that following a number of tests by a customer and a major US operator, it believes the issues have been successfully resolved.

In January, Filtronic warned that technical issues had been encountered in the final testing stage of its integrated antenna product.

As a result of the issues being fixed, the group said its wireless business has won orders worth £170,000 from a major telecoms industry manufacturer for ultra wide band integrated antennae.