Danish media group Egmont - parent company of NordiskFilm - had its best ever year in 2003, posting a pre-tax profit of Euros 59m -up from Euros 20m in 2002.

However, Nordisk Film revenues dropped back to Euros 345mcompared to 2002's Euros 432m.

In August 2002 the company merged its two sister divisionsEgmont Entertainment and Nordisk Film and streamlined their activities in orderto improve its profit. This process is still ongoing and is expected to have apositive impact on the 2004 results.

After years of expensive failures Nordisk Film had a numberof critical and commercial hits in 2003. They included the Danish films Reconstructionand Move Me, the Norwegian hits Wolfsummer and The Young Olsen Gang as well as the Swedish box-office smash Evil. The outfit also restructured its laboratoryoperations.

Nordisk Film encompasses feature production, TV and gamesand is the largest Nordic producer and provider of electronic entertainment.

"We continued our focus on improving profitability in2003 and have now established a good platform for Egmont's futuregrowth," said Steffen Kragh, president and CEO.

The impressive Egmont result has fuelled speculation that itwill take over national broadcaster TV2/Denmark when the state decides to sellit off. Egmont already holds a 33.3% stake in Norway's TV 2 Group.