X-RAY equipment specialist Bede plc believes devices being built at its County Durham headquarters will lead to big orders this year.

In its first quarter trading update, ahead of half-year results on April 26, the company said its order book was worth £3.2m.

The company's finance director, David Hall, said the figure put the company on track for an £8m order book by the end of the year.

He said: "We already have orders of £3.2m confirmed, and believe our share of the market will continue to grow.

"Bede's X-ray metrology solutions offer something different to the traditional methods of testing microchips.

"We believe the market for our technology will be worth between £5bn and £6bn per year by 2005."

Mr Hall said much of Bede's predicted growth was due to the growing confidence of microchip manufacturers, who had until recently put their spending plans on hold.

"Last year was not a good one for Bede. We had to lay off staff, and cut costs of around £1m from our budget, just to survive. But we have come through that period. It is no longer a case of just surviving. The whole sector is improving, and we expect to be one of the beneficiaries of that improvement."

Bede employs about 60 of its 100-strong workforce at its headquarters at Belmont Business Park, on the outskirts of Durham City.

It also has sites in Denver, in the US, Prague, in the Czech Republic, and a sales operation in China.

The Belmont headquarters will be the main beneficiary of the expected improvement in the company's fortunes.

Mr Hall said: "Last year we had to cut our technical workforce by around five positions.

"However, we should be able to replace that number this year if the expected orders for our products come through.

"Companies are currently developing the next generation of microchip technology. That development work was not there last year as they tightened their belts to survive the downturn in the industry.

"We expect that demand to return this year, and for Bede to make the most of the opportunities it presents."