Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber’s theatre empire has warned it is bracing for the “notable impact” the hike in employer’s National Insurance contributions (NICs) when it comes into force next month.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in her Budget in October 2024 that NICs would rise by 1.2 per cent from April to 15 per cent in a bid to raise £25bn in tax receipts.
London-headquartered LW Theatres, which is owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber, is coming into next month off the back of a financial year which saw its turnover increase to almost £200m but its pre-tax profit slashed in half.
LW Theatres is made up of The Theatre Royal Drury Lane, The London Palladium, Adelphi Theatre, His Majesty’s Theatre, Cambridge Theatre and Gillian Lynne Theatre.
Attendance increased across the six venues by 1.3 per cent to 3.3m which helped drive the company’s turnover from £190.7m to £198.1m.
New accounts filed with Companies House, however, show that the firm’s pre-tax profit was cut from £21.4m to £11.6m in the year to 30 June, 2024.
During the year the amount spend on refurbishment and maintenance on the theatres almost doubled from £2.5m to £4.9m.
Its box office takings rose from £126.2m to £131.4m in the year while the average number of people employed by the company jumped from 471 to 590.
The results for LW Theatres have been published before those of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s entertainment empire which are due by the end of the month.
A statement signed off by the board said: “We expect another full year of trading next year, although the recently announced increase in national insurance in the next financial period and beyond will have a notable impact on our business.”
During its latest financial year, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s LW Theatres showed the likes of Frozen, Back to the Future: The Musical, Matilda and Phantom of the Opera.