Pinewood Shepperton, the film studio company hosting the latest James Bond adventure, is hoping for a smoother year after the US writers' strike, a weak dollar and tax changes knocked profits in 2007.
Its studios hosted major productions last year, including Sweeney Todd and The Bourne Ultimatum, but other films were delayed and Pinewood's film revenue fell 13% to £19.5m.
The writers' strike that started last autumn knocked back a number of shoots at Pinewood's studios. Chief executive Ivan Dunleavy said yesterday one film had been "postponed" rather than merely "delayed", but on others it was a case of timing rather than lost business.
The company warned investors in November that it would lose £3m after a major production, believed to be the prequel to 2006's smash hit The Da Vinci Code, halted plans to film at its studios because of the writers' strike.
Although Pinewood has expanded its hosting of TV productions to mitigate the effects of a traditionally volatile film business, pre-tax profit fell 26% to £5.3m in 2007. That was in line with its expectations but the shares fell 3% to 242.5p.
The company has also suffered from the effects of a weak dollar, which has made US film-makers more reluctant to shoot overseas. Pinewood said continued weakness in the dollar, a change in tax laws on co-
productions and the writers' strike combined to reduce total film production investment in the UK by 15% to £723m in 2007. The number of films fell from 135 to 112 in 2006.
The cloud on this year's horizon is the prospect of an actors' strike.
"The Writers Guild strike is being seen as a sign that the potential Screen Actors Guild dispute may be averted, although, as previously stated, negotiations have yet to commence," Pinewood cautioned.
On the TV side, where 2007 revenue edged up 2.5% to £12.1m, Dunleavy signalled he was not worried about a downturn in advertising spending and the prospects of smaller commissioning budgets among commercial channels.
Pinewood's studios host the filming of TV comedy My Family and quiz show The Weakest Link as well as adverts and music videos. In 2007, Kylie Minogue, the Spice Girls and Led Zeppelin all worked there. This year, the company hopes to continue signing longer-term deals with producers and broadcasters.
"The advertising market will be an issue but demand for content continues to rise," said Dunleavy. "We are relatively relaxed about that."
Pinewood, chaired by ITV executive chairman Michael Grade, says it is looking forward to "modest growth on the year overall". Expected film revenue was showing "some modest improvement" and the level of TV bookings and inquiries indicated stronger demand year on year, it said. Revenue from "media park" activities - renting out its property and facilities to third parties - was progressing steadily.
Dunleavy said Pinewood's confidence was reflected in a 10% increase in its 2007 dividend to 3.3p.
