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.

Interim Results

Financial highlights

· Revenue $1,006.5m (H1 2011: $1,187.1m) in line with management expectations:

o Impact of Hard Disk Drive (HDD) supply disruption $76.8m in H1.
o H2 revenue underpinned by next generation hardware rollouts.

· Gross margin 18.6% (H1 2011: 19.0%). Underlying1 gross margin 19.4% before $23.1m HDD impact in H1.

· Adjusted EBITA2 $61.6m, operating margin3 of 6.1% (H1 2011: $68.4m, operating margin 5.8%). Underlying operating margin of 7.8% before $23.1m HDD impact in H1.

· Profit before tax $21.4m (H1 2011: $29.4m) after exceptional costs of $4.4m (H1 2011: nil).

· Basic EPS 5.1c (H1 2011: 7.1c) with adjusted basic EPS4 12.8c (H1 2011: 14.2c).

· Interim dividend increased by 15% to 1.44c (H1 2011: 1.25c).

· Closing net debt5 $243.3m (31 December 2011: $321.7m), a $78.4m reduction (H1 2011: reduction of $17.9m).

Excellent candle and good volume today!

Pace leaps 17 percent as the TV decoder maker raises its full-year earnings forecast as margins improve and the supply disruptions that marred the company's profit in the first half abated.

Peel Hunt, in a note, says the progress on underlying operating margins, which is ahead of expectation, leads to a 13 percent upgrade to full-year 2012 forecasts as well as a 20 percent upgrade to full-year 2013 forecasts - which it anticipated.

"There are three upside drivers to the Pace share price: 1) margin-driven forecast upside (headroom for further upgrades); 2) management credibility to drive a re-rating and 3) debt paydown - 2 and 3 can drive target prices well above our current (130 pence) target price," the broker says.

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.