HI-TECH company Bookham Technology warned that there was "no doubt" it would be hit by the effects of the slowing US economy.

The company, which supplies fibre-optic chips to telecom giants such as Marconi and Nortel Networks, said sales would fall over the coming months as its customers put off purchases until later in the year.

It added the fibre-optics market was becoming "less predictable" and could not say when the situation would improve, though there were signs that demand could pick up in six months.

The comments came as the firm, based in Abingdon, reported revenues of £11.6m for the first quarter of the year, at the top end of City expectations.

Chairman Andrew Rickman said: "In absolute terms we are no different from any other company in the short term.

"I don't think there is any doubt we will see a downturn in sales. Looking forward, there is a high degree of uncertainty." The news saw shares fall more than six per cent in early trading on the London Stock Exchange before they recovered slightly to stand at 287, a fall of 12p or four per cent.

Mr Rickman said Bookham was well positioned to weather the storm and that the company would emerge with a strong order book.

The company made a pre-tax loss of £11.7m, against £6.1m in the same quarter last year. Research and development costs rose 16 per cent over the previous three months.

Bookham's losses included £1m for its voluntary redundancy programme. A total of 190 staff left the company's headquarters in Abingdon and a manufacturing base in Swindon. Mr Rickman said he did not envisage further job losses among the remaining 800 staff this year.

"We feel the current situation could be to our advantage," he said. "We have a new generation of products and those likely to suffer the most are the larger firms who have far older products."

Strong demand for Bookham's latest products, which manage wavelengths in fibre optic cables, helped boost revenues over the first quarter to April 1.

The £11.6m figure was £100,000 above the previous quarter but 362 per cent up from the comparable period last year.