Facilities by ADF shares slump to record low as firm suffers from long tail of Hollywood strikes

Facilities by ADF shares dived to a record low on Tuesday after the group warned that its turnover and profits would miss market expectations.

The Bridgend-based firm, which rents out vehicles to film and television productions, saw its share price plummet by 26.8 per cent to 20.5p by the late afternoon.

While the company believes its 2025 revenues and profits will be ‘significantly ahead’ of last year’s results, it still anticipates them being ‘materially below current market expectations.’

It admitted that ‘relatively subdued’ activity in the industries in which it operates and production companies keeping a closer eye on budgets had led to ‘more challenging market conditions.’

ADF has struggled to rebound from the industrial action that affected Hollywood studios between May and November 2023.

Actors and screenwriters from the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA unions walked out in a dispute over residuals from streaming services and artificial intelligence’s impact on jobs.

Many TV programmes and movies were forced to halt production as a result, causing a massive financial impact on companies that provide services to the entertainment sector.

ADF expects to report £35.2million of revenue for 2024, just above the £34.8million made the previous year, as well as slightly lower adjusted earnings before nasties of £7.2million.

Many productions the firm was working on saw their start dates pushed from the second half of last year into the first six months of 2025.

Marsden Procter, chief executive of ADF, said: ‘A slower than expected return to pre-strike levels of activity, frozen budgets, reduced production spend and rising costs have all combined to present short-term challenges.

‘However, the long-term market outlook remains favourable for ADF, buoyed by sustained high levels of investment in the UK HETV [high-end television] and film industry.’

ADF forecasts ‘more normal levels of activity’ in the second half of 2025, supported by blockbusters based on Marvel superhero comics like Daredevil, Spiderman, and The Fantastic Four.

The group also anticipates working on TV shows such as Slow Horses, black comedy series Rivals, and Sam Mendes’s four separate films about each member of The Beatles.

Founded in 1991 as Andy Dixon Facilities, the firm’s vehicles have been used on popular TV shows like The Crown, Ted Lasso, BBC sitcom Amandaland, and Peaky Blinders.

Just as the global entertainment sector was recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, ADF went public on London’s junior AIM market in January 2022 to help capitalise on the booming domestic TV and film production industry.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said the group was ‘unlucky that its IPO came just before a Hollywood writers’ strike put lots of projects in the industry on hold.’

He continued: ‘However, any hope this would prove a short-term issue, with a potential boost from pent-up demand once it had concluded, has fast evaporated.

‘For several years, it was boomtime in the industry as streaming services spent heavily on content to attract eyeballs, but now that spending has been scaled back as the likes of Disney, Netflix and the rest look to make streaming pay.’