Shed hopes to score on the stock market

Shed Productions, established in 1998, plans to list its shares on the Alternative Investment Market.

The move will enable it to expand its programme line-up, fund acquisitions and provide extra incentives to staff.

Footballers Wives hit the headlines in 2004 when Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams urged people to resist the 'selfish lifestyle' it portrayed.

Hit shows

Shed, set up by four former executives of Granada Television, has made a profit every year since its launch.

Its growth has been founded on the success of popular primetime dramas Bad Girls and Footballers Wives.

A seventh series of Bad Girls will be broadcast this Spring while a fourth series of Footballers Wives will also be shown later this year.

Fundamental market changes will support our further growth Eileen Gallagher, Shed Productions

Shed has also benefited from its strategy of retaining the rights to all its programmes, enabling it to make money from overseas distribution and sales of videos and DVDs.

Further growth

Shed believes the proliferation of new digital channels means there is a ready market for its "high quality, value for money" programmes.

The company has been commissioned to produce three other dramas, to be shown in 2005.

"This is an exciting time for Shed and the independent television production sector as a whole," said chief executive Eileen Gallagher.

"Fundamental market changes, which we intend to capitalise on, will support our further growth from what is already a well-established base."