Barcelona-based content producer and packager, Media Park, has postponed its proposed stock flotation, but at the same time has revealed that it will open a 6,500 square metre production facility in Madrid next month.

Commenting on the cancelled IPO, company sources said: "Financially, we don't need to do it," and pointed to freshly posted year-end earnings of upwards of $61m (PTS11,000m), a 250% gain over last year's more than $22m (PTS4,000m). Last June, the company raised $60m (PTS10,500m) by selling 25% of its shares to Telefonica Media.

The new studio, in Madrid's "Image City" (La Ciudad de la Imagen), will house offices for at least 30 employees plus production and post-production facilities entirely dedicated to new projects.

In addition, Media Park revealed that it is developing three new leisure/entertainment thematic channels. Its current eight channels - which can be seen variously on Via Digital, Quiero TV and cable outlets - now boast 1.3 million subscribers. The company says it broadcasts 87,000 hours of content per year, 80% of which is acquired and 20% produced in-house.

Though the firm had never committed to an IPO, it issued a statement last June saying that it was studying the possibility of floating a percentage of its shares. The flotation, according to the statement, depended in part on the "global behaviour of the new economy in the second semester of the year".

In Spain, as elsewhere, the stock exchange has had a turbulent last few months, particularly for media and hi-tech companies categorised as "New Market" listings. Other firms, such as cable operator Ono (Cableuropa), have also cancelled or postponed IPOs in recent months.

Sources at Media Park say the company has no immediate plans for a future IPO and is no longer studying the possibility.

Media Park's shareholders include Grupo Equip (29.2%), Telefonica Media (25%), Iberdrola (19.13%), Skandia MI (11.22%), CCRTV (11.22%), Antena 3 (3.19%) and Philips (1.4%).