ELECTRONICS business Filtronic is on track for recovery, after several years of poor results.

Shares in the company, which employs 250 staff at Newton Aycliffe making mobile phone products, have just been promoted to the FTSE-350 index from the FTSE All-Share, following a 246 per cent rise in their value.

They currently stand at £4.70 a share, compared with a low of just 30p per share in October 2002.

But, as Andrew Miller, regional centre head for stockbrokers Gerrard in Newcastle, pointed out, the company now needs to build on that recovery.

He said: "On the back of winning lucrative orders for equipment for 3G mobile base stations, the company would appear to have turned the corner.

"However, it has to keep that recovery going in what has been a difficult market for the new technology, which is still expensive.

"The problem is that the young people, who want to use video phones, can't afford it, and the people with the income, aren't that interested in the technology."

Filtronic's Newton Aycliffe facility racked up losses of £14.5m in the year to May, despite the group as a whole recording pre-tax profits of £3.8m.

Filtronic's financial director, John Samuel, said: "Our promotion to the FTSE-350 index is obviously a move in the right direction for the business.

"We are working on contracts for the new 3G mobile networks, where the problem is that people expect the technology to be available sooner than it is.

"The infrastructure has to be in place before the services can be made available on the phones."