This year’s football World Cup will provide a further boost to high-flying digital TV technology group Pace plc.

The Saltaire-based global business is supplying high-definition set-top boxes for Freeview and also pay-TV operators as people upgrade their equipment to watch the likes of Wayne Rooney perform in South Africa this summer.

The tournament provides another opportunity for Pace, which is now the world’s second-largest supplier of set-top boxes to pay-TV operators, and last year lifted sales by 52 per cent to more than £1 billion for the first time.

Pre-tax profits soared by 405 per cent to £69.9m from £13.8m in 2008. Pace also raised its cash reserves from £38m to £73.5m.

Growing global demand saw Pace lift shipments of set-top boxes by 31 per cent over 2008 to 17.2 million units.

Chief executive Neil Gaydon said: “In 2009, Pace delivered exceptional growth and record results, shipping more set-top boxes to more customers and into more places than ever before.

“We are now the most diverse set-top box business by customer, product and geography. Our scale and product spread underpin our resilience and provide a powerful platform to deliver ongoing sustainable growth.

“Pace remains at the forefront of the biggest changes taking place in digital home entertainment. And we are ahead of the market in identifying and investing in new technologies to take advantage of this industry evolution.

“From 2010, high definition will become more mainstream and our customers will continue to invest in hybrid TV and bandwidth-hungry technologies such as 3D, ultra-high definition and whole home entertainment systems.”

Looking ahead, Mr Gaydon said Pace had “ a great deal to play for” as only four per cent of global households had made the switch to high-definition equipment. There was considerable growth in demand in markets around the world.

Mr Gaydon said HD was only one of the significant changes taking place, and Pace was already developing a new generation of hybrid set-top boxes combining broadcast and broadband content to add video delivery through the internet.

To boost development work in this area, Pace has agreed to acquire Bewan Systems, a leading European supplier of secure network solutions for home and office users as well as telecoms and internet operators.

Paris-based Bewan is located close to Pace France, formerly the set-top box arm of Philips, which the group acquired in 2008, and the transaction is expected to be completed during the second quarter of 2010 at a cost of up to £11.3m