Australia's Southern Star Group this week announced that it will be debt free with $12.5m (A$22m) in cash when net proceeds of $35.9m (A$63m) from last year's sale of duplication subsidiary Duplitek to Technicolor are received next month.

The company also revealed that revenue for the 12 months to March was up 11% to $127m (A$223m) and pre-tax profit was up 12% to $5.07m (A$8.9m), reflecting improvements all areas of the business and lower central costs.

Southern Star no longer acts as a theatrical sales agent, but has an extensive catalogue of feature films. It is one of Australia's most active producers and has some of the most popular programmes on air including the drama The Secret Life Of Us and reality show Big Brother. It sold Duplitek because of changing technology and increasing consolidation in the worldwide duplication business.