FILM studio business Pinewood Shepperton warned yesterday that delays to the start of some of its major productions would lead to "broadly flat" revenues this year.

Shares slumped seven per cent as the Buckinghamshire-based company said that although it had contracted a number of films to start production late in the year, the bulk of these were now due to begin filming later than expected.

It added that the timing of the productions would lead to flat revenues at its film division, compared to previous forecasts of growth at 15 per cent, with only a small year-on-year increase across the whole group. Overall revenues reached £40.7m last year.

Pinewood, which hosted the production of Casino Royale and Atonement last year, added that its operating performance in the first half of the year had been in line with expectations.