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Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards 2008: Setting the pace for growth in the
SINCE the credit crunch began, staying in has become the new going out. While cinemas, restaurants and bars all report fewer people through their doors, companies making televisions and digital boxes are getting busier as families choose to entertain themselves at home.
It's a change that has benefited Pace Micro Technology, which has swallowed an international rival and grown its own customer base this year. Now it has picked up the exporter of the year award at the Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards.
The accolade was a recognition of Pace's growth and its successful integration of the French Royal Philips Electronics business – bought for up to 63m in April – said Andrew Ward, vice president (sales) of Pace.
"I think our export record stands for itself in terms of the number of units and the revenue we had last year.
"It's testament to what the company has done since 2006, when we reorganised. We've grown the size of the company and doubled it with the addition of the Philips business."
The loss-making former Philips operation, now known as Pace France, was turned around quickly, with staff from Pace in Yorkshire going to the continent to make changes.
Mr Ward said: "The integration went very quickly because we had a lot of very talented people who know about the business model we've got in the UK and we were able to roll that out very quickly and very effectively in France.
"And the problems they had we had already fixed (in the UK] so it was kind of easy for us to repeat that in France."
Helen Kettleborough, director of corporate communications, said Pace had benefited during the credit crunch as consumers looked to entertain themselves at home more. "There are a lot of things people give up, but people still want to watch TV. It is one of the last things that people want to let go of."
In July, Neil Gaydon, chief executive of Pace, declared the firm was in its best ever shape, after it reported a rise of more than five per cent in half-yearly profits, before tax and exceptionals, to 11.2m.
The firm won a Queen's Award for International Trade in April as well as acquiring the French business, which makes Pace the world's third-biggest set-top box maker, behind Thomson and Motorola. Philips shipped seven million boxes last year while Pace shipped 3.6 million.
Earlier this year Mr Gaydon invited journalists to see Pace's newly renovated offices at Saltaire and it was no surprise that he refused to rule out making further acquisitions.
But the firm's immediate growth is likely to be organic, with an increased demand for high-definition television in Europe. Pace is also optimistic about its position in the US, where the analogue signal is to be switched off in February next year, after the Superbowl.
Pace's products have adapted as viewers' demands have changed and now it says it is creating products that tackle "real-life operator challenges", such as Pace Multi-Dweller, which is designed to enable pay TV companies access to difficult-to-reach customers in, for example, apartment blocks and offer them high revenue services such as PVR and high definition (HD).
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