Reuters: Hot Stocks: UPDATE 1-TV set-top box maker Pace raises full-year profit forecast

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UPDATE 1-TV set-top box maker Pace raises full-year profit forecast Jul 30th 2013, 09:41 Tue Jul 30, 2013 5:41am EDT * First-half profit triples to $68.6 million * Shares rise as much as 8 percent to 299 pence * Revenue rises 31 percent to $1.32 bln * Revenue from North America rises 62 percent to $839 mln * Net debt falls to $68.2 mln (Adds details, CEO and analyst comments) By Muhammad Zahid July 30 (Reuters) - British set-top box maker Pace Plc's first-half profit more than tripled and the company said it expected full-year profit to be higher than its earlier forecast. Shares in Pace rose as much as 8 percent to 299 pence, making the stock one of the top gainers on the FTSE 250 mid-cap index on Tuesday morning. "Operationally, the firm is in a far healthier position than 12-18 months back," Jefferies analyst Lee Simpson wrote in a note. Simpson maintained his "buy" rating on the stock but raised his price target to 338 pence from 263 pence. Pace's 2012 first half was hurt as flooding at a supplier's plant in Thailand in late 2011 disrupted deliveries of hard disk drives. The company did not provide a full-year profit forecast number. Pretax profit for the first half of this year rose to $68.6 million from $21.4 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 31 percent to $1.32 billion. Revenue from North America - Pace's largest market - rose 62 percent to $839.0 million, driven largely by strong demand from DIRECTV and Comcast Corp for its media servers. A media server is a device or software that is used to store digital media. Pace's three largest customers - AT&T, DIRECTV and Comcast - accounted for 59 percent of total revenue, up from 44 percent a year earlier. The TV decoder maker, which made an unsuccessful attempt to buy Google Inc's set-top box maker late last year, said Europe accounted for 12 percent of revenue in the first half, down from 18.8 percent a year earlier. "In Europe we missed a couple of cycles," Chief Executive Mike Pulli told Reuters. "We anticipate inside of Europe some good news coming out. There is a big IBC show in September and we will probably have some news coming up to that show." Yorkshire, Northern England-based Pace said net debt fell to $68.2 million from $163.3 million at the end of last year. Pace shares were trading up 6 percent at 295.4 pence at 0939 GMT. (Reporting by Tasim Zahid in Bangalore; Editing by Akshay Lodaya, Supriya Kurane) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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