Pace warning hits share price
Pace, the world’s biggest maker of set-top boxes, said a US customer was delaying a big order to 2012, reducing its 2011 sales growth and wiping some £100m off its stock market value. The setback overshadowed strong underlying profit growth and an upbeat longer-term outlook, sending Pace shares more than 15 per cent lower as it set an outlook for revenue growth of around the same level as the 17 per cent seen in 2010. Adjusted core earnings rose 36 per cent in 2010 to £103.6m after it shipped 22.2m devices for cable, satellite and IPTV customers such as Comcast, DirecTV and AT&T. Analysts at RBS said the results were higher than they had expected.