Pinewood to invest in small British films

Studios giant Pinewood Shepperton, the home of James Bond and Harry Potter, plans to invest in small British films to make up for dwindling television business.

Pinewood said yesterday it will invest up to a 20 per cent stake in films with production budgets of around 2 million and intends to buy in to about four films each year.

It hopes the selected Brit flicks will echo the success of Oscar-winner The King's Speech, which cost 9m to make and has already grossed more than 150m.

Chief executive Ivan Dunleavy said: "Although our financial commitment to each film will be relatively small, we can in addition offer access to the world-class facilities and production expertise at Pinewood and Shepperton which would normally be beyond their budget."

The announcement comes as the group posted a 31 per cent increase in pre-tax profits to 5.8m for last year, and an 8 per cent increase in revenues to 43.4m.

But its TV division was hit by ITV and BBC deciding to use in-house studio facilities to save on costs. TV revenues dropped to 8.2m from 11.3m in 2009.