05/09/2005

The biggest studio facilities in the UK, Pinewood Shepperton announced that the company’s turnover for the first six months (ended June 2005) registered a disappointing £13.3m (€ 19.5m), a 35% drop from 2004’s £20.4m (€ 29.8m).
According to Ivan Dunleavy, Chief Executive of Pinewood Shepperton, these results reflect "the unusual trading conditions experiences for Film Stage Services, principally due to the protracted uncertainty over the future UK film fiscal policy and to a lesser extent to the adverse $/£ exchange rate."

These tough industry conditions have meant that the studios have had difficulty securing film contracts, apart from the two major Hollywood productions Basic Instinct II that used Pinewood Studios during that period, and The Da Vinci Code, currently in production at Shepperton and also utilising the James Bond 007 stages at Pinewood.
The company clearly points out that the reduced film production activities at the studios reflect the general production environment in the UK as film investments dropped by almost 50% during the first half of 2005, from £668m (€ 976m) in 2004 to £335m (€ 490m) in 2005.
Pinewood Shepperton stated that the uncertainty over film tax incentives in the UK would probably continue to impact the company’s film trading for the rest of 2005 and into 2006. But it was still confident about the group’s general business prospects thanks to two positive factors that occurred during this first half of 2005:

-the acquisition of Teddington Studios last April as part of the company’s strategy to diversify its revenue streams would certainly bring new business to its TV and Sound services and,
-as part of its long term strategy of enhancing its film studio facilities, Pinewood Shepperton received the final approval from the local councils for Pinewood to add another 94,700sq metres and for Shepperton to develop 77,710 sq metres of new facilities, representing a total of 172,410sq m (1.85 sq.ft).

Furthermore, the company completed in Pinewood studios last March the construction of its U-Stage at a cost of £1.1m (€ 1.6m), the unique underwater filming facility of its kind in Europe, and Shepperton completed its phase 1 of its Eastern workshops at a cost of £0.6m (€0.88m).