A leading Bradford company was today landed with a £450,000 fine for withholding important financial information from the stock market.

Pace Microtechnology, the Saltaire-based manufacturer of digital set-top boxes, was hit with the fine by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for two major breaches of rules in 2002.

Today's announcement followed an investigation into the conduct of Pace during the period when its share price tumbled as it absorbed numerous problems in its market including the collapse of ITV Digital.

The FSA said Pace had failed to reveal, in its interim results announcement on January 8, 2002, that its trade credit insurer had said it would no longer guarantee payments made to it by NTL, one of Pace's biggest customers which was suffering from well-publicised financial difficulties.

And the company also failed to inform the market without delay when it discovered, on February 4, 2002, that its future revenues were likely to be lower than anticipated. When the company did eventually release the information on March 5, 2002, its share price fell by 67 per cent by the end of trading.

Today Pace was slammed for its actions by the FSA which said the company had been guilty of "clear breaches" of the stock market's listing rules.

FSA director of markets Gay Huey Evans said: "The FSA requires listed companies to ensure the financial information they release to the market is accurate and provided without delay. This is a fundamental protection for shareholders and is vital for the smooth operation of efficient, orderly and competitive markets."

Pace had initially appealed to a Financial Services and Markets Tribunal to challenge the decision.

Today the firm said it had decided to reach a settlement with the FSA "without admitting its conclusions" rather than pursuing the case through the tribunal.

It said: "The company has decided that in view of the significant additional costs, both in financial terms and in management time, it would not be in the best interests of the company or its shareholders to continue to pursue its reference in relation to these matters, especially as the company has been advised that its costs would almost certainly not be recoverable from the FSA even if its appeal to the tribunal were to be fully successful."

It stressed the FSA had found that Pace "did not act deliberately or recklessly" and said a £1.5 million costs provision announced in its end-of-year results last May would be sufficient to cover the matter.