X-RAY technology specialist Bede plc is on course to make its first profit after sealing a deal with a leading US semiconductor company.

Analysts have revised their expectations of the company and believe it will be operating in the black by the end of next year, 12 months ahead of expectations.

Under the latest contract win, four of the company's BedeMetrix-F tools will be shipped across the Atlantic to a leading company in the semiconducting chip-making industry, although a secrecy pact prevents Bede giving the name of the customer.

The deal, believed to be worth £2.7m, has raised Bede's sales to date and confirmed order book for this year to £8.1m, an improvement from £5.4m predicted in at the end of the first quarter of this financial year.

Analysts predict Bede will turn £8m over by December and is now expecting £15m of sales next year.

Evolution Beeson Gregory (EBG), the company's house broker, expects the company to turn pre-tax losses of £2.4m this year into pre-tax profits of £500,000 next year.

Ian Robertson of EBG said: "This is yet another confirmation of the acceptance of Bede's technology.

"The winning of such a large order from a US semiconductor company that has had Bede's tools in its production facilities since 2002 is excellent news for Bede and Bede's shareholders."

Bede chief executive Dr Neil Loxley said: "We are delighted that a world-leading semiconductor manufacturer has once again chosen Bede to provide metrology tools for their leading-edge manufacturing processes.

"This contract, together with other recently announced and expected orders, underlines the growing importance of X-ray metrology for leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing and Bede's significant lead in this sector."

Last month, the company secured its first contract with a European semiconductor manufacturer for equipment that will check defects during the manufacturing process.

It had also received another order from one of the world's leading suppliers of memory chips -the closing order in a multimillion pound contract.

The demand for Bede's products has underpinned Dr Loxley's belief that the semiconductors sector was on an upward trend and that his company's tools would become more influential. He said: "What we are able to demonstrate is increasing evidence of what we have been expecting."