LONDON (Alliance News) - Studio operator Pinewood Group PLC said Tuesday it plans to raise GBP30 million through the placing of 1 million shares at 375 pence each, which will be used alongside new bank facilities of up to GBP135 million to fund the first phase of expansion of its facilities.
Shares in the company are untraded Tuesday morning. It last closed at 426.50 pence.
The company said that the proceeds of the placing will be used to repay part of its existing debt facilities in order to manage its capital and reduce interest costs, which it said will then provide headroom for the new facilities agreed with Lloyds Bank PLC, The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, HSBC Bank PLC and Barclays Bank PLC, to be used for the planned expansion.
Pinewood is planning to build new stages, workshops, facilities and production offices at Pinewood Studios in order to ultimately double the existing capacity. The company's studios are operating at close to full capacity, but it is seeing increasing demand from the film, television and video games industries.
The expansion will be undertaken in three stages, each of up to five years, with the first to begin in the first half of 2015. It estimates the total cost of the expansion at GBP200 million.
The first phase will include five new large stages, ten workshops, two production offices and associated infrastructure and landscaping.
The company also reiterated its full year expectations for the year to end-March, saying positive progress has continued since it posted its interim results in November. It has seen strong film revenue and associated activities, with a number of major features utilising its stages including ''Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens;, 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' and the start of filming of new James Bond film 'Spectre'.
Television revenues were lower than in the previous year in its first half, but have performed more strongly in the second half.
Its new Pinewood Studio Wales site began operations in January, and is currently hosting the pilot of a high-end television production 'The Bastard Executioner'.
Pinewood said it is "encouraged by the visibility of the level of forward bookings for the financial year to 31 March 2016".
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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