OVO Arena Wembley creates over 250 jobs and doubles profit
OVO Arena Wembley doubled its profit and created more than 250 jobs during its latest financial year, it has been revealed.
AEG Facilities UK, the business behind the London venue, has reported a pre-tax profit of £2m for 2023, up from the £1m it posted in 2022.
Newly-filed accounts with Companies House also show that its turnover jumped from £12m to £15m during the 12 months.
The results have also revealed that the average number of people employed at OVO Arena Wembley in 2023 increased from 1,398 to 1,660.
OVO Arena Wembley held 127 events in the year, up from 103 in 2022.
AEG Facilties UK is part of the wider LA-based AEG group which is the world’s second-largest presenter of live music and entertainment venues, behind Live Nation.
Revenue boost at OVO Arena Wembley helped by price increases
A statement signed off by the board said: “This year has seen very good event numbers and quality of events, combined with the positive impact of our internal initiatives, particularly across our food and beverage operations and hospitality offerings within the venue, where we have looked at both enhancing existing premium spaces and developing additional ones, whilst also re-defining some of our packages.
“These are clearly evident in our performance for the year.
“We have, like business in general, also had the co tinted challenge of huge inflationary pressures, particularly relating to our labour and energy costs, but we have managed these closely with mitigation measures wherever possible, but inevitably also had to correspondingly pass some of the costs on in the form of price increases.”
The results for OVO Arena Wembley come after AEG Presents, the UK touring and festivals arm of the group that owns The 02 in London, hailed its full recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic despite a fall in its turnover and profit during 2023.
AEG Presents’ UK venues include the Hammersmith Apollo, which is currently called Eventim Apollo, Indigo at The O2, University of Wolverhampton at The Halls and Olympia West Hall in London.
The division is also involved in BST Hyde Park, All Points East, Eden Sessions, Country To Country and Forwards.
AEG Presents reported a turnover of £178.3m for 2023, down from the £223.7m it posted in 2022. Its pre-tax profit also fell from £11.1m to £5.6m.