Profit was slashed at the UK arm of Fremantle, which makes shows such as Britain’s Got Talent during its latest financial year, it has been revealed.
The London-headquartered division has reported a pre-tax profit of £9.4m for 2023, down from the £22.9m it achieved in 2022.
Newly-filed accounts with Companies House also show its turnover decreased from £374.3m to £364.8m over the same period.
The division is part of the wider Fremantle Group, which itself is owned by RTL Group.
Fremantle was originally founded as Pearson Television in 1993 and now includes a large number of other UK-based production companies among its subsidiaries.
A statement signed off by the board said: “The company continues to follow its long-term plan to create, produce and distribute some of the best known and loved content in the world.
“The directors expect this to continue for the foreseeable future.”
Sales suffer at wider Fremantle group
The results for Fremantle come after the UK arm announced last month that it was to merge its labels Thames and Talkback into one single entity.
The new combined label will have a portfolio including Britain’s Got Talent, Too Hot to Handle, Blankety Blank, Family Fortunes, QI, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Rob Beckett’s Smart TV, Battle Camp and Bear Hun.
Fremantle UK’s results also come after one of its subsidiaries, London-based 72 Films, also suffered a slash to its profit for its latest financial period.
As well as 007: Road to a Million, 72 Films is known for 9/11: One Day in America, Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story and The Rise and Fall of Boris Johnson.
72 Films was founded by David Glover and Mark Raphael and has won commissions with the BBC, National Geographic, Channel 4, Sky, Paramount, Netflix, Apple and Amazon.
Fremantle acquired a majority stake in 72 Films towards the end of 2022 for an undisclosed sum.
In August, the wider Fremantle group posted a turnover of €957m (£802.3m) for the first six months of 2024, down from €1.07bn (£897.1m) it reported for the same period in 2023.
In a statement, Fremantle’s parent company, Luxembourg-based RTL, said the revenue fall was because of “market developments and phasing effects”.
At the time, RTL itself posted a half-year revenue of €2.87bn (£2.40bn), a rise of 1.8 per cent.