Pinewood Shepperton mulls BBC Resources bid

Pinewood Shepperton studios is interested in buying BBC Resources, after reporting half-year results in which pre-tax profit was up 39% but operating profit and turnover were flat.

The company said it had expressed an interest in 'participating in the sale process' of BBC Resources, but would not be drawn on further details. It said the sale was 'clearly at a very early stage'.

For the half year to 30 June, TV revenues were down from £5.5m to £4.7m as a result of payment for some productions not being received during the accounting period. Chief executive Ivan Dunleavy said he did not consider this to be significant and that the company planned to increase its TV work in the future.

'We are looking to achieve a parity with film in terms of revenue,' he said. 'The UK TV market is large and diverse, we want to increase our share in it.'

Dunleavy said that the company could increase the revenue share from TV, which currently stands at 30%, to 50% over the next three years.

Film revenues were £10.8m, an increase of 9% from £9.9m. For the six months to 30 June group turnover was down £400,000 to £18.3m, with operating profit flat at £3.6m and pre-tax profit up 39% to £2.9m.

The company's Studio 1 at Teddington is now fitted with HD kit and Dunleavy said that customers were increasingly choosing to produce programmes in this format. The margins at Teddington have improved as a result of these innovations.

The company is also planning to build a media centre comprising 1.8 million square feet of studio space. It will be built in the next eight to 10 years.

In addition, Pinewood has created a dedicated Foley division for film and TV productions that will be managed by Ed Colyer.

The group plans to build a new Foley centre in early 2008, thereby expanding this division. Programmes to benefit will include BBC1's primetime show Robin Hood, ITV's EchoBeachand one-off drama Half Broken Things.