Pace have fallen a lot over the last 6 months. The move to digital is near, do you think they can recover. Presently way off previous highs.

If it can get through the next six weeks without a trip ...............it'll get back in the FTSE 250. That should send the price straight back over £2.00.

I should have bought more. It doesn't really seem worth selling half my holding at such an exciting point!

12 month high today @167.75p

Pace moves up to FTSE 250 in reshuffle

Published on Thursday 13 September 2012 08:55

TV decoder maker Pace is to be promoted to the FTSE 250 in the stock exchange’s latest quarterly reshuffle.

The Saltaire-based company’s shares have risen from lows of 70p in April to close at 174.5p yesterday.

The group is seeing a new lease of life under new chief executive Mike Pulli, who issued an upbeat trading statement in July.

Pace has raised its full-year earnings forecasts as margins improved and supply disruptions eased.

Mr Pulli said he wanted to make the company more efficient, adding: “I don’t like debt in the company that I’m running. The faster you pay down debt the better.”

Why the crash today?

BT Contract

Pace plc would like to confirm that any outcome of the commercial and technical discussions with BT on the YouView contract is of no material impact to the Company's earnings in this or future years.

Buy for monday then. Nice.

Potential acquisition of Google's Motorola Home

Pace plc ("Pace" or "the Company") notes the announcement from Google that it has reached agreement to sell its Motorola Home business. The Company was unable to reach an agreement with Google on terms that the Board believes would have been in the interests of Pace's shareholders. Accordingly, Pace has contacted the Financial Services Authority to request that the suspension of its securities from the Official List is lifted without delay. Pace expects the suspension to be lifted shortly.

Just posted on twitter.....

razer ‏@SharesMagSteve
More @Pace. 14 Nov @Canaccord BUY P/T 228p on more cost cuts.

Jefferies - Buy - 230p target.

PIC PACE

Just a re-cap on brokers with buy notes out
and their SP targets.....

Date Company Name Broker Rec. Price Old target price New target price Notes

12 Dec Pace PLC Peel Hunt Buy 188.05 250.00 - Retains
11 Dec Pace PLC Espirito Santo Execution Noble Buy 188.05 235.00 235.00 Reiterates
Reiterates
03 Dec Pace PLC JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 188.05 216.00 - Retains
14 Nov Pace PLC Canaccord Genuity Buy 188.05 205.00 228.00 Retains
14 Nov Pace PLC Peel Hunt Buy 188.05 200.00 250.00 Retains

N@P Building Society.

PIC PACE

Broker BUY support for PIC....

Date Company Name Broker Rec. Price Old target price New target price Notes

21 Dec Pace PLC Canaccord Genuity Buy 190.30 150.00 228.00 Upgrades
21 Dec Pace PLC Peel Hunt Buy 190.30 - 250.00 Retains
11 Dec Pace PLC Espirito Santo Execution Noble Buy 190.30 235.00 235.00 Reiterates
03 Dec Pace PLC JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 190.30 216.00 - Retains
14 Nov Pace PLC Peel Hunt Buy 190.30 200.00 250.00 Retains
06 Nov Pace PLC JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 190.30 134.00 205.00 Retains
16 Oct Pace PLC Exane BNP Paribas Outperform 190.30 160.00 205.00 Retains

Trading Update

The Group performed strongly in H2; the full year results are anticipated to be ahead of the Board's previous guidance:

Record Q4 revenue has resulted in a strong finish to the year, largely driven by demand for next generation Media Server products in North America. Full year revenues expected to be around $2.4bn, 4% ahead of 2011 and of prior guidance.

Underlying operating margin expected to be 7.3%, after adjusting for the adverse impact of HDD supply disruption1, with adjusted EBITA2 of at least $157m (11% ahead of 2011).

Cash generation throughout H2 was strong, with free cash flow3 for the year expected to be not less than $175m (2011: $8.2m).

Closing net debt4 expected to be no greater than $170m (2011: $321.7m), a 47% reduction during the year (compared to a 3% increase in 2011).

We have made good progress throughout the year in the execution of our Strategic Plan:

Transform Core Economics: The continued focus on operating efficiency has delivered sustainable savings in the year, and we are well underway in the transformation of our supply chain that will deliver tangible benefits in 2013 and beyond.

PayTV Hardware Leadership: There has been high demand for Media Servers in H2 for both DIRECTV's Genie™ Advanced Whole-Home HD DVR and the XG1 for Comcast's new X1 service. We expect this technology trend to continue into 2013, and we recently announced the approval for production of DIRECTV's next generation HR44 GenieTM Media Server and C41 mini GenieTM client device.

Widen out into Software, Services and Integrated Solutions: We have achieved a number of key wins and deployments across all areas of our software and services offerings, and have a strong pipeline into next year. In particular, we are pleased to announce two standout wins:

Foxtel, the largest PayTV operator in Australia, have selected Pace to provide an integrated whole home solution consisting of Pace Media Server hardware and Pace Elements software along with Pace Systems Integration services to help deploy the solution.

BSkyB has deployed the Pace Component Management System (CMS)5 which will support its customers in the UK.

Commenting on today's announcement, Mike Pulli, CEO, said: "Pace has performed impressively in 2012 with a particularly strong second half to the year. We have made good headway on executing our strategy and Pace is becoming a more profitable, cash generative company.

We have momentum and a sustainable platform to build from, and we expect to make further progress in 2013 and beyond."

The Group will be announcing its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2012 on 5 March 2013.
-ends-

why 5th March? so late!
Are they the second largest top box make in the world?

Todays Broker snaps.......so far.


Pace Broker Views

Date Broker Recommendation Price Old target price New target price Notes

10 Jan Canaccord Genuity Buy 198.25 228.00 233.00 Retains
10 Jan Espirito Santo Execution Noble Buy 198.25 235.00 260.00 Reiterates
10 Jan Peel Hunt Buy 198.25 250.00 250.00 Retains

N@P Building Society.

"The transformation of Pace, under the new management team led by Allan Leighton, the chairman, has been truly remarkable. The shares were the second-best performer in the FTSE 350 last year. The news flow of late has been negative however - the company lost the contract to supply the much-delayed YouView TV service and an attempt to take over Google's own set-top box maker Motorola Home late last year. But the other view is that these are positive developments. The YouView contract was of marginal profitability, at best. Pace refused to pay over the odds for Motorola, leaving this to Arris, of the United States. Not only that but, as can be gleaned from the company's trading statement yesterday, the company's current cash-flow means that it could be debt free by the end of the year, after which it could either reinvest those funds or return them to investors. The shares sell on about eight times this year's earnings. That still looks like good value, though some might care to take some profits, The Times's Tempus adds."

PIC breaking out.

WOW tight spread.

Back to summer 2009.

PIC PACE

Looks very cheap to me PIC.

Just look at the forward P/E to year ending 2013
and then compare it with the Historic P/E for
2011........ 22.14 V 9.01

DERD CHEAP and plenty more increase to come
here.

PEG for 2013 just 0.25.

INVESTMENT RATIOS
2011 (A) 2012 (E) 2013 (E)

EBITDA £110.68m £121.64m £138.36m
EBIT £56.17m £91.36m £104.96m
Dividend Yield 0.93% 1.03% 1.15%
Dividend Cover 4.86x 7.94x 9.65x
PER 22.14x 12.24x 9.01x
PEG -0.43f 0.15f 0.25f
Net Asset Value PS -42.27p 95.50p 120.97p

Hemscott Premium.

Time to dust this off again.

Preliminary Results

Adjusted EBITA up 11.8% to $158.1m, Free cash flow $182.7m, Dividend up 20.0% to 4.5c per share.

Financial highlights

· Revenues up 4.1% to $2,403.4m (2011: $2,309.3m).
· Adjusted EBITA(1) up 11.8% to $158.1m (2011: $141.4m) including the impact of Hard Disk Drive (HDD) supply disruption of $23.1m in H1 (2011: $8.9m).
· Adjusted EBITA margin 6.6% (2011: 6.1%), 7.3% before the impact of HDD supply disruption (2011: 6.4%).
· Profit after tax up 50.5% to $58.4m (2011: $38.8m).
· Basic EPS up 47.0% to 19.4c (2011: 13.2c) with Adjusted basic EPS(2) up 18.2% to 35.1c (2011: 29.7c).
· Proposed final dividend 3.06c per share, resulting in full year dividend of 4.50c per share, a 20.0% increase on 2011 (2011: 3.75c).
· Free cash flow(3) $182.7m (2011: $8.2m).
· Closing net debt(4) down 49.2% to $163.3m (2011: $321.7m).

Operating highlights

· New Executive Management team established in Q1 2012 with robust management processes and culture of accountability across the business.
· Significant progress made against the Strategic Plan laid out in November 2011:
o Transform core economics:
§ Focus on operating efficiency has delivered sustainable savings in the year.
§ Transformation of supply chain that will deliver tangible benefits in 2013 and beyond well underway.
§ Managed well through HDD supply disruption following major flooding in Thailand, containing the financial impact within H1.
o PayTV hardware leadership:
§ Reconfirmed as the market leader in PayTV hardware; global number one in Set-top boxes ("STBs")(5) and Residential Gateways(6).
§ Maintained position at the forefront of technological development with the launch and deployment of Media Server platforms at DirecTV and Comcast, and a number of Media Server wins at operators in Europe, Latam and Asia Pacific.
§ Continued demand for Gateway platforms; Pace recently announced the deployment of the Pace 5168 Triple-Play Gateway at MTS, the fourth largest Telco in Canada.
o Widen out into Software, Services and Integrated Solutions:
§ Achieved a number of key wins and deployments across all areas of our Software and Services offerings at customers such as BSkyB, Foxtel and Sky New Zealand, and have a strong pipeline into 2013.
§ Notable developments in H2 include:
· Telstra, Australia's leading telecommunications and information services company, has deployed the Pace ECO Service Management software suite. The ECO platform is currently supporting our customers to manage nearly 25 million devices across the world.
· The Latens software-based Conditional Access and Digital Rights Management (DRM) business made good headway, with a 68% growth in the number of subscribers the product is deployed to, on both Pace and other vendors' STB hardware.

2013 Outlook

Considerable progress has been made in delivering on our strategy in 2012 but there remains further opportunity in 2013 to develop and improve the performance of the Company.

The PayTV market remains resilient and demand for our products and services continues to be encouraging:
· Media Server upgrade cycle continues in North America and other markets.
· Increasing opportunities for software, services and integrated solutions.

Going into 2013, Pace has a clear plan and good line of sight to making further progress in the business:
· Revenues for 2013 expected to be broadly in line with 2012.
· Operating Margin for 2013 is expected to be c.7.5%.
· Strong cash flow will continue, and Pace expects to be in a positive cash position at the end of 2013.