Pinewood Shepperton, the film studio company hosting the latest James Bond installment, 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 revenues fell 13% to £19.5m.
The American writers' strike that started last autumn knocked back a number of shoots at Pinewood's studios. Its chief executive Ivan Dunleavy said today that one film had been "postponed" rather than merely "delayed," but on others it was merely a case of timing rather than lost business.
The company had already 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 into hosting more TV productions to mitigate the effects of a traditionally volatile film business, its pre-tax profits still fell 26% to £5.3m in 2007.
Although the results were in line the company's own expectations, the news knocked its shares.
The company has also suffered from the effects of a weak dollar, which has made US filmmakers more reluctant to film overseas because they get worse value for their currency.
Pinewood said the continued weakness of the dollar, changed tax laws on co-productions and the writers' strike all combined to reduce total film production investment in the UK by 15% to £723m in 2007. The number of films fell to 112 from 135 in 2006.
The cloud on the 2008 horizon for film production is the prospect of an actors' strike to follow the writers' walkout.
"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 television side - where 2007 revenues 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 television 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 the demand for content continues to rise," said Dunleavy. "From our point of view we are relatively relaxed about that."
Pinewood, which is chaired by ITV boss Michael Grade, says it is looking forward to "modest growth on the year overall". Expected film revenues were so far showing "some modest improvement" and the level of television bookings and enquiries indicated stronger demand year-on year, it added. Revenues from its "media park" activities - renting out its property and facilities to third parties - were progressing steadily.
Dunleavy said the company's confidence was reflected in a 10% increase to its dividend in 2007 to 3.3p.
