London-based Beggars Group, one of the world’s largest independent music companies, saw a slight bump in revenues last year while posting a total operating profit of £8.24m.
Sales at the company reached £72.43m in calendar 2017, up 2.6% on the £70.62m posted in 2016, according to a new annual report posted on UK Companies House.
Although gross profit (£22.8m) rose on 2016, rises in distribution expenses and administrative expenses meant that total operating profit was down on the £12.56m recorded in 2016.
No dividends were paid out to shareholders of Beggars Group Ltd last year, in contrast to the £10m paid out in 2016.
However, according to a note in Beggars’ annual report, £8m in dividends has been paid out so far this year.
UK-based turnover at Beggars grew slightly (£8.57m) year-on-year, but sales in the rest of the world jumped by £3.8m on 2016, up to £28.95m.
Employee headcount across the Beggars Group operation rose to 119 from the 112 seen in 2016.
Beggars’ family of labels include XL Recordings, Matador, 4AD, Young Turks and Rough Trade.
The company said in its report that its highlights last year included a reissue of Radiohead’s OK Computer, in addition to the release of the Grammy-winning Sleep Well Beast album from The National (pictured, 4AD) and Queens Of The Stone Age’s Villains (Matador).
