Harry Potter and The Cursed Child theatre owner stages sales success
Nimax Theatres, the West End operator behind iconic London venues including The Palace, Garrick and Apollo Theatres, is celebrating another year of profit as sales outstrip their pre-pandemic levels for the second year in a row.
Turnover across the group increased to almost £33m over the 12 months ending October 1, 2023, up from just under £32m in the year before and 10 per cent higher than the period ending September 29, 2019 – the group’s final results before the pandemic hit.
These strong sales meant the company remained in the black despite pre-tax profit dipping slightly from £8.5m to £7.5m over the course of the year.
Nimax said much of the success could be attributed to long running shows, with three theatres in its group accommodating year-long productions: Harry Potter and The Cursed Child and The Play That Goes Wrong, playing at The Dutchess and Palace Theatres respectively and the musical Six, which finished its second full-year run at the Vauderville.
West End theatre Apollo also made a significant contribution to the group’s overall performance, kicking off the period with two hit shows, Upstart Crow and Derren Brown’s Showman.
Although the season was generally strong, not all shows hit the right note with audiences.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Aspects of Love, which starred Michael Ball and had been due to run for six months at Lyric Theatre in London’s West End, closed three months early following widespread negative reviews.
Despite this, Nimax said the period was an overwhelming success, adding in a business review published on Companies House: “The company continued to invest in its theatres and, despite a full programme of shows playing at all the venues, managed to deliver a programme of maintenance and replacement during the year.
“The company’s principle risk lies in its ability to attract quality productions in a highly competitive West End market.
“Despite force majeure situations such as closure due to the pandemic, the strong level of advanced sales retained by the group to date demonstrates the resilience of theatre going demand for quality shows.”