Works Media halved losses last year to £598,000 as its move to stop producing films, and start selling them instead, began to pay off.

A capricious performer, the company drastically re-modelled – from meat processor to film producer – in 1999, re-branding from Whitchurch to Civilian Content. The most recent change of tack to film distribution was less acute, with another re-branding to the Works Media Group and the adoption of two operating subsidiaries: Works International, a global rights management business bought from the BBC, and Works UK, a newly launched film distribution division.

New chief executive Norman Humphrey, a long-time film industry accountant who joined as finance director in 2000 and replaced Charles Auty as boss this March, is sanguine: ‘The UK business is really only in a start-up phase but it is in the best place and is very scaleable.’

In the hands of Humphrey, a collector of wristwatches, business has continued to tick over, with two French films freshly added to an eclectic portfolio that ranges from Robert Altman’s last film, The Prairie Home Companion, to sexually explicit arthouse flick Shortbus. Works UK owns 20-year multimedia licences over 17 titles and Humphrey aims to add 12 a year.

Cinema release is the first, and least profitable, period for each film, but four months later more serious money is to be made as DVD sales begin, followed by video-on-demand two months later and pay-per-view, pay TV and free TV further down the line. An agreement with Universal Pictures, where the film giant will distribute Works' DVD titles, is significant, as are arrangements with Virgin and Sky for video on demand.

Paid-for research from Growth Equities & Company Research, owned by T1ps.com, predicts a profit this year.

In December, a £1.25 million private placing was conducted at 2p when the shares were trading at three times that a month before. The shares have recently rebounded slightly and may continue to be erratic performers.

Works Media Group (The)	AIM	£1.65m	1.12p	0.00p
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Works Media			19/11/2007
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