Pace plc AGM and Interim Management Statement
April 22 2009
Mike McTighe, Chairman of Pace plc (pic.l), the leading independent developer of digital TV technologies for the global payTV industry, will give the following update at the Company’s Annual General Meeting later today:
“On 7 April 2009 we released a Trading Update that announced significantly improved expectations for Pace’s future financial performance and I can confirm that this positive position remains unchanged.
“The Board is delighted with the progress Pace has made since the start of 2009 in its position as a top three player in the global market for digital set-top box technology. I would like to reiterate some of the key points made in our 7 April update as they have created an exceptionally positive situation for Pace, which we expect to continue, reflecting the strong foundations established over the last three years.
“There has been increased demand for Pace’s products across many of the Group’s global markets and technologies and Pace is viewed as a supplier of choice by many of its payTV operator customers. This, along with strong market demand and enhanced competitive position has resulted in further orders from new and existing customers to fulfil consumer demand for digital and high definition services. At the same time Pace has continued to benefit from its programme of operational synergies and business efficiencies to improve margin performance across the Group. The Group also continues to benefit from a strong balance sheet and has significant net cash as highlighted in the Preliminary results announcement on 3 March.
“Pace’s achievement in having established a market-leading position for technological excellence was this week recognised with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation. The Award recognises Pace’s pioneering work in developing high definition set top box technology and is Pace’s second successive Queen’s Award, having won an International Trade Award in 2008.
“The Board was also pleased by the successful placing of the Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. shareholding in Pace; this comprised the shares they received as consideration for the sale in April 2008 of their set-top box and connectivity solutions business. This business, which is now Pace France, has been successfully integrated into the Pace Group.
“Looking ahead the market continues to present significant opportunity for Pace. In 2008 over 181 million digital set-top boxes were shipped into global markets and this number is expected to grow to over 201 million in 20121. Pace has carefully targeted the most successful payTV operators and invested its engineering capability in high-end product segments such as high definition, personal video recording, broadband and payTV. For example, the market for high-end products is growing rapidly, but so far only 3.7% of households worldwide are watching television in high definition2.
“Pace is well positioned within a strong market and is continuing to create new market and technology opportunities for itself. The Networks Group, with their MultiDweller™ product, opens up a new market in the infrastructure equipment sector for the delivery of TV-led triple-play services into apartment blocks and hotels and the group is now moving into commercial deployment. As the world moves towards entertainment convergence in the home Pace is also developing product platforms to deliver voice, data and encrypted TV content over whole home networks.
“2008 was a transformational year for Pace. We have noted continued momentum in 2009 and we expect Pace to be in a strong position as the Group enters 2010. Pace is now in the FTSE 250, is the second largest quoted company in the UK IT hardware sector by market cap and, on the same basis, is a top ten UK quoted technology company.
“Looking forward, the Board is confident that the management team will continue to consistently deliver against the clear strategy it has established and take full opportunity of the expanding position it has created for Pace in the global market for digital TV technology.”
1 Screen Digest April 2009
2 Screen Digest April 2009
