REAL DEAL FOR ENTERTAINMENT ONE

ENTERTAINMENT One – the firm behind children’s TV favourite Peppa Pig – has completed an acquisition of Canadian TV producer Force Four Productions.

Force Four specialises in ‘non scripted’ TV – such as reality TV and cooking programmes, which are aired mainly in North America and Canada. Reality shows include Shannon and Sophie, which follows the lives of a Hollywood mother and daughter, and Border Security, about Canada’s Border Services Agency.

FTSE 250 firm Entertainment One (up 13.6p to 354.5p) is seeking to boost its slice of the reality TV market in the US following the success of rival shows such as the American Baking Competition, a spin-off from the hugely popular Great British Bake Off.

Entertainment One has already enjoyed success across the Atlantic, with hits including vampire film franchise Twilight, pictured, and US horror series The Walking Dead.

Chief financial officier Giles Willits said: ‘This deal enhances our international business.’

The price paid for Force Four Productions was not disclosed.