Two directors of Pace Micro Technology Plc have made paper profits of well over one million pounds each in the past two weeks after gossip about their share buying spree set the stock market ablaze with rumors. Directors David Hood and Robert Fleming each bought 2.8 million shares in the Shipley, UK based set-top box manufacturer at 44.5 pence each in what a company official described as an expression of confidence in the company’s future. The shares races to a high point of 112 pence yesterday as wagging tongues in city of London wine bars put a more dramatic spin on the story and predicted that a hostile bid would soon be mounted for the company. But a Pace spokeswoman dampened a little of the speculation by stating: We do not know why the share price is going up. This brought the price back down to 88 pence. After its troubled history, Pace has had a spate of good news this year with new of deals with British Sky Broadcasting, British Digital Broadcasting and Web TV, the Microsoft Corp subsidiary, in UK trials. The turnaround in the company’s fortunes followed news in March that the company was cutting 15% of its workforce after recording losses of 12.3m pounds (CI No 3339).
