UK independent music company Beggars Group Ltd. posted a healthy post-tax profit of £3.81m in 2014, from an overall turnover of £42m.
The profit figure was down slightly on the £4.03m equivalent posted in 2013, when the company recorded a turnover of £52.88m.
Interesting: the number of releases from Beggars in 2014 stood at 44 – up slightly from 40 in 2013.
Also interesting: the entire £23.48m turnover of ‘the group’ (not including Beggars’ associated companies and joint ventures) was derived from ‘the sale and licensing of sound recordings’.
No merch or live mentioned. £7.7m of this sum was generated in the UK, with the remaining £15.8m coming from the rest of the world.
Beggars Group’s latest filings with Companies House also give us a glimpse into the financial performance of its famous jointly-owned subsidiary, XL.
XL Recordings Ltd turned over £11.53m in 2014, compared to revenues of £18.1m in 2013.
Its post-tax profit stood at £2.73m in 2014, compared to £4.72m in 2013.
XL, of course, is set to issue the third album from worldwide megastar Adele (pictured) later this month.
Judging by the record-breaking performance of its predecessor, you can expect Beggars/XL’s 2015 and 2016 numbers to reflect a barnstorming commercial performance.
Beggars highlighted the performance of Jungle, Warpaint, FKA Twigs and Future Islands as commercial standouts in 2014.
Music Business Worldwide