Jake Humphrey and David Coulthard share bumper pay day after record profit
Jake Humphrey and David Coulthard have shared a bumper pay day after record profits their production company, Whisper Films.
The TV presenter and former F1 driver shared a total dividend of £2.6m alongside chief executive and fellow co-founder Sunil Patel as well as backer Sony.
The pay out, split between an interim dividend of £680,000 in 2024 and a further £2m in May this year, came after Whisper Films posted healthy financial results for the 12 months to 31 March, 2025.
For the period, the business reported a turnover of £92.3m, up from the £78m it achieved in the prior year.
Its pre-tax profit also jumped from £4.3m to £6.6m, according to new accounts filed with Companies House.
Both the latest turnover and pre-tax profit figures are new records for Whisper Films.
From broadcast revenue, the business raked in a revenue of £83.6m, up from £55.2m but its earnings from branded content was slashed from £22.4m to £7.8m.
In the UK, its revenue rose from £30.2m to £41.5m and from £16.3m to £25m in Europe.
However, revenue in the rest of the world fell from £31.4m to £25.6m.
Jake Humphrey and David Coulthard worked together on the BBC’s F1 coverage in 2010.
Humphrey and Coulthard in sale talks
Whisper Films specialises in live sports production, documentaries, branded content, esports and events as well as unscripted entertainment.
It makes content for the likes of UEFA, FIFA, Wimbledon, Roland-Garros, the NFL, international cricket, the Paralympics and F1.
The company also works with broadcasters and platforms such as Prime Video, ITV, Chanel 4, the BBC, Dazn and Netflix.
In a statement signed off by the board, Whisper Films said: “This financial year saw Whisper continue to grow across the core elements of its portfolio of clients and contracts, particularly in sport, internationally, events and esports and documentaries and entertainment.”
It added: “Furthermore, it has been another successful year for contract wins, with a series of renewals with key clients and a new pipeline of significant projects, which include Built in Birmingham, Brady and the Blues and Roland-Garros.
“This further cements the group’s position as one of the world’s leading multi-genre production platforms with an industry-wide reputation for excellence and execution and provides the financial security and visibility to keep delivering against a strategy optimised to meet the challenges and opportunities of the rapidly evolving and growing sports, entertainment and media sectors.”
The results come after it was reported in March that Whisper Films was in talks with potential buyers about selling a stake in the business.
It was said at that the time that the group was open to a range of options including the sale of a majority or minority stake.