NBCUniversal International recovers from record £96m loss
The international arm of media giant NBCUniversal has recovered from a record £96m loss to return to profit.
The division of the US-headquartered group has posted a pre-tax profit of £1.9m for 2024, new accounts filed with Companies House have confirmed.
The profit comes after NBCUniversal International reported a pre-tax loss of £96.5m for 2023.
Over the same period, the company’s turnover increased from £47.3m to £51.1m.
In 2023, NBCUniversal International suffered a write down of £99.2m. The business did not specify which investments it had to write down.
However, Variety reported in October 2024 that the writer down was a non-cash impairment.
Before the record loss in 2023, the company had posted a pre-tax profit of £37.2m.
NBCUniversal owns Downton Abbey maker
The UK-based division owns a number of companies including Carnival Productions which is behind Downton Abbey.
It also owns Working Title Television and Harry Potter producer David Heyman’s Heyday Television.
Other production companies it owns include Made in Chelsea maker Monkey Kingdom, Australian TV company Matchbox Pictures and distributor Focus Features International.
In the UK, NBCUniversal International’s turnover increased from £26.4m to £28.5m and from £20.1m to £21.6m in the USA.
In the rest of the world, its turnover rose from £741,000 to £876,000.
In separately filed accounts, subsidiary Universal International Studios reported a turnover of £42.7m for 2024, a rise from £34.7m.
Its pre-tax loss was also slashed from £44.3m to £23.6m over the same period.
In July, CityAM reported that Heyday Television entered the red ahead of starting work on the new Harry Potter TV series.
Heyday Television is a joint venture between Heyday Films, which was founded in 1996 by producer David Heyman, and Universal International Studios.
In March this year, Heyman was announced as the new co-producer of the James Bond franchise alongside Amy Pascal by Amazon MGM Studios.
The pair have taken over from Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson who stepped back after signing a deal for Amazon MGM Studios to take full control of the franchise.