Pace ends a tough year with a profit
PACE shares jumped 13 per cent yesterday after a fall of nine per cent in the previous day’s trading, despite the television set-top box developer posting a drastic slump in profits.
After a year in which the company axed its senior management team, issued three profit warnings and saw its main hard disk suppliers hit by floods in Thailand, Pace reported a pre-tax profit of $54.7m for fiscal 2011, less than half the $110.2m it took the year before.
But the main impact of the floods is yet to come, as the Yorkshire-based business only took a $9m revenue hit last year, leaving $25m to $35m more to come in the first half of this year.
Like-for-like revenues at Pace fell seven per cent as Europe – where income dropped 19.5 per cent from $568.2m to $249.6m – failed to deliver growth.
Organic revenues fell 7.1 per cent, but, including the effect of acquisitions, revenues were up 11.9 per cent to $2.3bn.
Pace’s new chief Mike Pulli said he was not fazed by the rise of online video streaming, reiterating his confidence in the pay-TV industry.