THE chief executive of x-ray specialist Bede has resigned, the company told investors yesterday.

Dr Neil Loxley, who has been part of the company's senior management for 18 years, will leave immediately.

Although colleagues said the resignation was not a result of shareholder pressure, the company had been experiencing tough trading conditions and shed a tenth of its workforce in July.

Chief financial officer David Hall and colleagues will be taking over the day-to-day management responsibility.

He said: "Neil has been with the company for 18 years, in senior roles, and Bede went on the stock market in November 2000 and since then he has taken on the chief executive role.

"During the second half of last year we have seen extremely tough trading conditions and a difficult climate.

"Neil has been a very long-standing servant of the company and he has done really well to get Bede to where it is today.

"Recently, there have been additional pressures over and above the chief executive role and in the interests of personal wellbeing and, recognising that he has taken the company this far, he has offered his resignation."

Bede is due to announce its preliminary results next week. In October, it said weak orders led to pre-tax losses increasing to nearly £1.7m in the three months to September 30, from a loss of £400,000 the year before.

Bede, which is on Belmont Business Park, said it was losing business due to competition and has been trying to save £1m a year in costs.

The company had been hoping to be in profit last year for the first time.

It designs and makes x-ray instruments and related software used by manufacturers to monitor the production of semiconductors.

The group was founded in 1978 by Professor Brian Tanner and three colleagues from the University of Durham.