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.

Another up leg?

Pace plc: Completion of Aurora Networks acquisition and Trading Update notification

Pace plc ("Pace" or the "Company") today confirms the completion of its acquisition of Aurora Networks, Inc. ("Aurora") (the "Acquisition").

On completion of the Acquisition, Pace paid Aurora shareholders US$323 million comprising a headline consideration of US$310 million (on a debt and cash free basis) plus a further US$13 million relating to tax benefits to be recovered over the three years post Acquisition.

The consideration for the Acquisition is subject to post-completion cash and working capital adjustments.

A five year term loan for $310m to finance the acquisition of Aurora Networks Inc plus a new five year $150m revolving credit facility is now in place.

Pace will make a 2013 full year Trading Update to the market on Thursday 9 January at 07:00 GMT.

-ends-

Trading Update

FY2013 expected to be ahead of guidance: operating margin not less than 7.7%, revenue growth of 2.4% to $2,460m, free cash flow in excess of $200m

Saltaire, UK, 9 January 2014: Pace plc, a leading global developer of technologies and products for PayTV and broadband service providers, today announces the following unaudited update for the financial year ended 31 December 2013 ahead of preliminary results to be announced on 4 March 2014.

The Group performed well in 2013; and full year results will be ahead of the Board's previous guidance:
· Full year revenues expected to be up 2.4% to $2,460m (2012: $2,403.4m).
· Adjusted EBITA1 of at least $190m, 20% ahead of 2012 (2012: $158.1m).
· Underlying operating margin expected to be not less than 7.7%, at least 1.1ppts ahead of 2012 (2012: 6.6%).
· Free cash flow2 in excess of $200m (2012: $182.7m).
· Debt repaid in full prior to the end of the financial year3 (zero debt), cash position in excess of $30m as at 31 December 2013 (31 December 2012: $163.3m net debt).

The Group has made good progress throughout the year in the execution of our Strategic Plan:
· Leadership in PayTV hardware:Pace maintained market leadership positions in Set-top Boxes, Media Servers and Gateways whilst making further progress into previously under-penetrated markets such as cable in Europe and IPTV.
· Widen out into software, services and integrated solutions: Pace built on the momentum of 2012 with a number of key wins and a strong focus on product and customer project delivery for major launches and deployments in 2014.
· Transform core economics: Continued focus on efficiency has delivered further sustainable overhead savings and the transformation and rationalisation of our supply chain was completed, delivering significant benefits in 2013 and beyond.

Preliminary Results

Strong performance in 2013: Adjusted EBITA up 22.5% to $193.6m, Free cash flow up 14.4% to $209.0m, Dividend up 22% to 5.49c per share.

Financial highlights
· Revenue up 2.7% to $2,469.2m (2012: $2,403.4m).
· Adjusted EBITA1 up 22.5% to $193.6m (2012: $158.1m).
· Operating margin2 up 1.2 percentage points to 7.8% (2012: 6.6%).
· Profit after tax up 65.6% to $96.7m (2012: $58.4m).
· Basic EPS up 60.8% to 31.2c (2012: 19.4c) with Adjusted basic EPS3 up 26.2% to 44.3c (2012: 35.1c).
· Proposed final dividend 3.66c per share, resulting in full year dividend of 5.49c per share, a 22% increase on 2012
(2012: 4.50c).
· Free cash flow4 $209.0m (2012: $182.7m).
· Debt repaid in full prior to the end of the financial year (nil gross debt), cash position of $33.0m as at 31 December 2013
(31 December 2012: $163.3m net debt5).

Operating highlights
· Increased operating profit through top-line growth, improved revenue mix, supply chain efficiency and increased operational efficiency.
· Highly accretive acquisition of Aurora Networks, Inc ("Aurora") (completed on 6 January 2014), a leading provider of Optical Transport and Access Network solutions.
· Further progress made against the Strategic Plan laid out in November 2011:
o Transform core economics:
§ The rationalisation of the Electronic Manufacturing Services ("EMS") footprint was completed, delivering significant operational and financial benefits in 2013 and beyond.
§ Continued focus on efficiency has delivered further sustainable overhead savings; $16.2m (5.8%) underlying savings compared to 2012.
§ Further Working Capital reductions and robust cash management enabled a second consecutive year of over 100% free cashflow to EBITA generation.
o PayTV hardware leadership:
§ Reconfirmed as the market leader in PayTV hardware; global number one in Media Servers6, Set-top boxes ("STBs")7 and Telco Gateways8.
§ 2.6% revenue growth in PayTV hardware (2012: 3.9%) to $2,355.4m with strong demand from major customers and a number of wins achieved in previously under-penetrated markets such as cable in Europe and Internet Protocol Television ("IPTV").
o Widen out into Software, Services and Integrated Solutions:
§ Built on the momentum of 2012 with a number of key wins across all areas of our software and services offerings and a strong focus on product and customer project delivery for major launches and deployments in 2014.
§ 5.4% growth in software and services revenue to $113.8m (2012: 7.6% to $108.0m).


2014 Outlook
Considerable progress has been made in delivering on our strategy in 2013 and there remains further opportunity in 2014 to build on this success to develop and improve the performance of the Company.

The Board is confident that the Group (including Aurora) will make further progress in 2014:
· Revenues for 2014 expected to be c. $2.7bn.
· Operating margin for 2014 is expected to be c. 8.5%.
· Strong cash flow will continue, and Pace expects to generate in excess of $185m of free cash flow.

Excelent results truly outstanding.

Added first thing.

direcotorstalk.com, cant post here for some reason.

Jeffries SP Target 467p

Peel Hunt Sp Target raised to 490p.

Worth a read as parts of the Full Note are on the site and its free to sign up.

Director's Talk :-)

Ohhhhhhh well done skinny but the main news is just below your link.

Could you please post the jeffries and Peel hunt part broker notes and post them across the road aswel .

No site seems to have got these upgrades yet.

cheers.

If you copy and paste the following,

<a href="http://www.directorstalk.com/peel-hunt-and-jefferies-thoughts-on-pace-today">Peel Hunt and Jefferies Thoughts on Pace Today</a>

it will give you this link :-


Peel Hunt and Jefferies Thoughts on Pace Today

Cheers skinny so thats the code you use. Appreciated. Ill save it.

skinny just tried it on advfn and hasnt worked. ??

Yes if you C&P it exactly as it is - obviously I've used some different HTML in order to make the code appear as it does above.

On edit - I've just done it by copying and pasting the above ?

It looks like afn don't like the direct link to director's talk - it works the 1st time and then is converted to .com.

Think its directors talk that dont like copying????.

Cant for some reason blue the text and use ctrl +c

Can on all other sites.

That's becoming more common - even PC World's site won't let you - it makes it more difficult to compare goods elsewhere!

GF - my post 41983 still seems to work.

Ahhhhhh right. Cheers skinny.

Comment on yesterdays results by broker JP MORGAN......

Bullish comment from management with
feet firmly planted on the ground realising their is more to be done.

ive added.

In auction - down 9.1%.