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The company has been benefiting from forecast-beating results, particularly from the US, where demand for HD products, especially personal video recorders, has soared.

With the US leading the way in HDTV and many millions of television sets sold there, Pace is now benefiting from the demand for such follow-on products.

It is also behind much of the set-top box technology being used by the pay TV operators launching programmes in HD format.

With a further eight million boxes expected to be installed in Europe by 2010, Pace said it was hoping to benefit from a further sales boom.

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Russell Hardy, 45, has been running the Millets owner since 2004.

He came under fire last year for failing to allow for the lack of a Glastonbury festival in profit targets.

The company, whose biggest shareholder is tycoon Mike Ashley, said Hardy would be replaced in the interim by finance director Keith Fleming while a replacement is sought.

However, Fleming, formerly with B&Q and , is seen as a frontrunner for the job permanently.

Hardy will receive a pay-off of less than his contractual 89,000 year’s salary.

His departure will delay any immediate 40m sale of the 49-strong Freespirit surfwear chain. The company today confirmed the division was under review.

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Chief executive Michael Bright, managing director Philip Condon and finance director Dennis Lomas were expected to plead not guilty to charges of conspiring together and with others to defraud directors, staff, shareholders, creditors and others who had an interest in the financial condition of the business. The three are accused of misleading investors, creditors and customers about the extent of the firm’s liabilities between January 1997 and June 2001.

Independent collapsed four years ago, leaving thousands of people without insurance cover.

The investigation, involving the City of London Police, was one of the longest ever undertaken by the Serious Fraud Office.

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