Hollyoaks maker comes down from US high
Turnover at the maker of Hollyoaks, The Only Way is Essex and Geordie Shore fell back to expected levels in 2023 after experiencing a spike in the prior year.
Liverpool-headquartered Lime Pictures has reported a turnover of £65.2m for 2023 after its sales surged to £100.9m in 2022.
The rise in 2022 came after the Hollyoaks maker’s turnover had totalled £63.3m in 2021.
The fall back in its total sales was because its US turnover was slashed from £22.7m to £415,142 in the year while its UK sales also fell from £78m to £64.7m.
Newly-filed accounts with Companies House also show the firm’s pre-tax profit was cut from £3m to £933,8787 in the year.
A statement signed off by the board said: “The company continues to perform well across its portfolio of scripted and non-scripted continuing series and has been successful in securing ne programme commissions.
“The commercial environment in which the company operates remains competitive, but the directors believe that the company’s position as a prominent producer of UK television programmes will enable it to maintain its current position in the future.”
It added: “Inflationary challenges will continue to pressure programme margins through the next 12 months with increases in labour, energy and material costs outpacing corresponding programme tariffs from broadcasters.”
Owner of Hollyoaks maker sold for £1.15bn
The company was founded by Sir Phil Redmond in the early 1980s as Mersey Television and was acquired by All3Media in 2005.
The first major production from Lime Pictures was soap opera Brookside for Channel 4 while it took over the production of Grange Hill, which Sir Phil Redmond had also created, in 2003.
Since 2016 the company has produced Celebs Go Dating for E4 and was also behind Free Rain for Netflix.
All3Media comprises 40 production and distribution companies and is owned by Warner Bros Discovery and Liberty Global.
All3Media was acquired by RedBird IMI, the investment fund helmed by US media titan Jeff Zucker earlier this year in a deal valued at £1.15bn.
The owner of Lime Pictures also owns studios which makes the likes of The Traitors, Call the Midwife, Squid Game: The Challenge and Gogglebox.
For 2023, All3Media generated a revenue of £995.1m in 2023, down from over £1bn in the prior 12 months.
It also made a pre-tax loss of £27.8m after also making a loss of £29.7m in 2022.
However, the group said it did achieve its highest level of EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) in the year after it increased from £100.2m to £107.4m.