The axe that has been hanging over Toronto post house Casablanca seemed to drop a few more inches this month following the release of a financial report from parent Alliance Atlantis Communications which restated the company’s plans to back away from TV and feature film production and which, according to one source, has sent staff at the shop and its animation and FX sister Calibre Digital Pictures ‘scrambling’ to find new jobs.

‘There’s no job security here for anyone,’ says the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In a March 17 release, AAC recapped the hefty cuts made last year to its Entertainment Group – which closed the doors at its Halifax-based Salter Street Films and at offices in Alberta and the U.K. – adding that the financial impact of its about-face will be spelled out in its end-of-fiscal report, due April 5.

The release did not mention Casablanca or Calibre, and copies distributed to staffers included assurances that the Entertainment Group, to which both companies belong, will continue to operate, but it did not rule out the possibility of further layoffs.

Many staff expect AAC will unload or close its post operations in April. AAC tried unsuccessfully to sell Casablanca (then called Tattersall Casablanca) last year, along with Calibre and its Salter Street Digital, which was bought by a group headed by Rob Power, its VP.

But Casablanca and Calibre CEO Chuck Ferkranus says he has no idea why his people are so spooked, insisting there is ‘no intention’ to close the shop and ‘no layoffs [are] contemplated at this time.’

‘There is no hammer coming down,’ he says. ‘Alliance is not pushing the panic button.’

Meanwhile, Calibre reports that it is busy, and is celebrating the sale of its Ace Lightning, the BBC/AAC superheo series it worked on, to U.S. ‘caster Discovery Kids Network.

With files from Mark Dillon