PINEWOOD GROUP PLC ANNOUNCES AUDITED RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2015

Today the Company publishes its audited results for the year ended 31 March 2015.

Financial highlights

Revenue £75.0m (year ended 31 March 2014: £64.1m).
Operating profit £5.8m (year ended 31 March 2014: £4.9m).
Operating profit from Media Services activities before exceptional items £11.0m (year ended 31 March 2014: £9.2m).
Basic earnings per share 16.4p (year ended 31 March 2014: 10.8p).
Basic earnings per share adjusted for exceptional items 13.5p (year ended 31 March 2014: 11.5p).
Final dividend of 2.8p per share declared (year ended 31 March 2014: 1.9p).
Cash generated from operations of £18.4m (year ended 31 March 2014: £14.0m).
Net debt of £71.9m (31 March 2014: £40.2m) with increase principally from the Shepperton Studios Property Partnership (“SSPP”) acquisition.
Media Services return on capital employed of 10.1% (31 March 2014: 9.6%).
Strategic progress

Design & Build contract signed and full construction of Phase One of the Pinewood Studios Development Framework (“PSDF”) has commenced.
Completed the acquisition of the 50% interest in SSPP formerly owned by clients of Aviva Investors.
A joint venture, Pinewood MBS Lighting Limited, established to become the provider of lighting to productions based at Pinewood Studios and Shepperton Studios.
International activities growing at rapid pace.
Commenting on today’s results, Ivan Dunleavy, Chief Executive, said:

“”Pinewood is a uniquely positioned independent operator and has once again delivered strong growth.

“As our core business has grown we have expanded the range of services for the screen-based industries. We are seeing encouraging results from this strategy. Our growing presence internationally continues to deliver clear benefits.

“Following the successful share placing in April 2015, construction has begun on the first phase of the Pinewood expansion. This is an exciting development for the Group and we are pleased with the support and commitment given to us through the placing.

“Although we have hosted the three largest film productions of the year, being Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, Avengers: Age of Ultron and the 24th Bond film Spectre, we continue to be unable to meet all the demand from large films.  This will be partly addressed by the first phase of the Pinewood expansion.

“We are encouraged that the current financial year has got off to a strong start with good visibility into the coming year.”

Key developments since year end

Initial drawing on the newly agreed £135m term and revolving credit facilities and £30m (before expenses) raised in a share placing, through the admission of 8m new ordinary shares to trading on AIM.
Two new Independent Non-Executive Director appointments were made adding further complementary expertise to an already skilled Board.
Extended the media investment offering to video games and high-end television.
A copy of this announcement will shortly be available for inspection on the Company’s website at www.pinewoodgroup.com. The annual report will be posted to shareholders and made available on the Company’s website on or around 7 July 2015.