Set-top box maker Pace expects U.S. demand to boost earnings by 20 pct

Jan 9 (Reuters) - British set-top box maker Pace Plc PIC.L said full-year earnings would beat previous expectations and jump at least 20 percent, driven by strong demand from North America, its largest market.

The company's shares shot up about 5 percent in early trade on Thursday morning, making it the biggest percentage gainer on the FTSE-250 .FTMC index.

Pace, whose three major customers are Comcast CMCSA.O , AT&T T.N and DIRECTV DTV.O , said operating margin for the year ended Dec. 31 would be no less that 7.7 percent.

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The TV decoder maker said it expects adjusted earnings before interest, tax and amortisation to rise to at least $190 million, compared with $158.1 million a year earlier.

The company had raised its full-year forecast in July after first-half profit more than tripled.

Pace, which develops technology for pay TV and broadband service providers, also said it expected full-year revenue to rise 2.4 percent to $2.46 billion.

Analysts on average had expected the company to report full-year revenue of $2.45 billion and pretax profit of $169 million.

Pace's shares, which have risen about 9.9 percent since the company raised its profit forecast in July, were up 2 percent at 348.6 pence at 0821 GMT.

(Reporting by Karen Rebelo and Richa Naidu in Bangalore; Editing by Supriya Kurane)

((richa.naidu@thomsonreuters.com)(within UK +44 20 7542 1810, outside UK +91 806 749 4939)(Reuters Messaging: richa.naidu.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: PACE OUTLOOK/