Teddington Studios & SBS acquired for £2.7m

Teddington Studios Limited, which had been placed in administration, and the entire share capital of The Studio Broadcasting Company Limited (SBC) have been acquired by Pinewood Shepperton plc for £2.7 million.
Well known as the former studios of Thames Television, Teddington Studios facilities were recently utilised by shows such as 'The Office', 'My Hero' and 'Harry Hill'.
Although SBC has not traded to date the company owns "certain assets" relevant to the operation of Teddington Studios, and will provide channel hosting services to several satellite and cable channels within the studios of Teddington.
Pinewood Shepperton has acquired the assets, staff and name of Teddington Studios, as well as assuming the lease of the Teddington Studios site and liabilities for a total cost of £2.6 million, while SBC has been acquired for a further cost of £0.1 million.
Ivan Dunleavy, Chief Executive of Pinewood Shepperton plc, said: "This is an exciting opportunity for Pinewood Shepperton and is in line with our long term strategy to diversify our revenue streams in our integrated media businesses.
"Teddington Studios and SBC, combined with our existing business in television and sound services, significantly enhances our presence in the marketplace. We will be working closely with the management of Teddington Studios and SBC to maximise the benefit of our enlarged television and sound services activities."
Following the announcement acquisition of the business and assets of Teddington Studios Limited by Pinewood Shepperton Plc, Nick O’Reilly, Joint Administrator and Partner in Numerica Business Recovery Group commented: “We were appointed to assist Teddington Studios in achieving the best solution for all stakeholders.
"We are pleased that the business has been sold to Pinewood Shepperton as a going concern so that the studios will continue to be used for recordings. This is an excellent example of the new Administration laws being used to rescue a business in financial difficulties”.
The acquisitions by Shepperton Pinewood include fixed assets of £1.8 million, of which £1.2 million are subject to finance leases. In addition, it is anticipated that Pinewood Shepperton will incur reorganisation and transaction costs of approximately £1.3 million that are expected to be set down in 2005 as an exceptional item.
The consideration for the acquisitions will be funded from Pinewood Shepperton's existing bank facilities.
The unaudited net assets of Teddington Studios Limited for the year ended 30th April 2004 are valued at £1.6 million a figure that includes the assets now owned by SBC. Turnover was £8.3 million with an operating loss of £9,000.
However, the turnover included contracts valued at approximately £2.5 million which have not been renewed.
The acquisition is a natural extension to Pinewood Shepperton's current television and sound services business, and the company declared that they intend to apply their "existing business model" to the acquisition.
(SP)