Pace Micro Technology Chief resigns

Pace Micro Technology, set-top box manufacturers for BSkyB among others, have announced that Malcolm Miller, Chief Executive Officer, will leave the Company on January 1 2003 to join marine electronics specialists Raymarine Group Limited as Chief Executive Officer.
A committee of Pace Micro Technology’s non-executive Directors, led by Chairman Sir Michael Bett, has commenced the search for a successor and will consider internal and external candidates.
The Pace board issued a statement thanking Malcolm Miller for his service over the last five years and wished him well for the future.
The jovial statement belies an undercurrent of failure, however, as in July of this year Pace Micro Technology issued two profit warnings in a week, reporting a 33 per cent fall in sales and a loss for the year to June 1.
Industry commentators agree that the group was badly affected by a reliance on the struggling cable industry as some of their largest customers, including NTL and the doomed ITV Digital, experienced severe financial difficulties.
Pace also suffered from their most recent deal with BSkyB, which saw Pace sell set-top boxes to the broadcasting giant for less than it had cost to make them.
Pace's share price, which has lost almost 97 per cent of its value this year from a 460p high, was flat in midday trading at 14p.
(GB)