Profile - Stuart Hall: Holding the purse strings as firm sets the pace in TV market

"A lot of people said: 'What the hell are you doing? Pace is a basket case!' But I saw it as a challenge," he says.

At the time, the Saltaire-based company had a turnover of just 170m, it had made an annual loss of over 30m and had debts of 35m. So maybe his friends had a point?

"Oh no," he tells me cheerfully. "It was a challenge. I could see the company had a long way to go, but I liked the culture of the firm. Neil (Gaydon, who had recently been appointed chief executive at the time] really wanted to grow the company."

The culture at Pace has become legendary. There are very few layers of management and people are entrusted to manage themselves.

"We put a pool table in the restaurant and we've now got a league," says Hall. "If people want to play pool at 11 in the morning then that's fine. We fully trust people. If someone has been at work since 7am and they need a break then they can have a game of pool. People are excited and invigorated to be working here."

Three years on since Hall joined, Pace is a transformed company.

It is now the world's largest supplier of set-top boxes to the pay TV industry, having leap-frogged global rivals Motorola and Technicolor.

Pace shipped more set-top boxes in 2009 than any other developer, according to a study by industry analysts IMS Research and it is expected to stay in pole position in 2010.

The company shipped 17.2 million boxes in 2009 and is expected to ship a record 21 million in 2010. "It's not top-down management, it's pushing up," explains Hall, when asked to explain the company's remarkable turnaround.

"My three years at Pace have flown by. I'm really looking forward to the next few years. It's very difficult to get bored at a company that is changing so quickly."

Much of the growth at Pace has been driven by the soaring popularity of High Definition (HD) television.

Other growth drivers are PVR (personal video recorder), on demand services, 3D and Whole Home – which allows subscribers to pause, film and watch TV in any room in the house.

Another important driver has been Pace's decision to diversify the business geographically. In 2010 the UK will account for just two per cent of the group's revenues.

Three years since Hall joined Pace, the company now supplies boxes for over 100 of the world's payTV operators and employs over 1,000 people in locations around the world, including operations in France, the US, India and China.

But it's Pace's home in Saltaire in West Yorkshire that has defined the culture of the company. "We want people to be fully accountable for their area," explains Hall. "We say 'You tell me what you want to do'. A company has to have integrity. We want people to be really proud of who they work for. Financial success gives you comfort."

It is Hall's job to make sure that the numbers continue to give shareholders comfort. He rattles off the stats, off the top of his head – in 2010 the group had a turnover of 1.13bn, it made profits of 76m and it has 90m in the bank.

Hall believes that the role of the CFO is changing.

"Investors look to the CFO to be the voice of reason," he says. "You need a company strategy that is robust, one that is based on logic and fact.

"The numbers are a way of judging the success of the company. I have to make sure that the plan is achievable and realistic."

So, how does Hall feel about the popular concept that finance directors are grey and boring?

"Yes they are seen as boring and rightly so!" he laughs. "But the role has changed. A finance director needs the strategy of a CEO now."

Hall had an unusual start to his career. Born in Liverpool and schooled in Cardiff, he left school at 16 to take on his first job as a steel welder. "It was a summer job," he explains.

"One day some guys came in to see us from the accountants. I talked to them and they ended up offering me a trainee job at 35 a week, which was an enormous sum at the time."

Hall was somewhat miffed to learn later that this princely sum was mostly supplied from Government grants. It was a financial lesson he wasn't to forget. He then trained as a chartered accountant and worked at a number of companies including Energis group, Energy Squared, and prior to joining Pace he was CFO at global outsource supplier IQE. So where next?

"I've been a CFO for 17 years. I'm incredibly poor at doing anything else," he laughs. "I'm interested in team work and where the growth is going to come from."

When asked where would he like to be in five years' time, Hall says, "I can't imagine doing anything else than what I'm doing today. I know I want to stay in technology, but that is as far ahead as I've thought."

Hall wrote the finance director's statement in accountants and business advisers BDO's 2010 Yorkshire Report, which came out in April this year. One of the report's key findings was that the flexibility shown by Yorkshire companies makes them well-placed to benefit from the recovery.

"I was honoured to do the report," says Hall. "It was very interesting to do. I'm very proud to be based in Yorkshire, there is a real sense of pride."

That is something coming from a man who was born on the other side of the Pennines.

STUART HALL

Title: Chief financial officer, Pace

Date of birth: 13.4.67

Place of birth: Liverpool

Education: Radyr Comprehensive, Cardiff; University of Glamorgan ("when I was there it was the Poly of Wales")

First job: Steel welder

Favourite music: Rock music

Car driven: Range Rover ("aka a slow tractor")

Favourite film: The Italian Job

Favourite holiday destination: "I very rarely go to the same place twice. Probably snowboarding and ski-ing holidays."

Last book read: The Working Capital Report

What I am most proud of: My family