Content revenue up following private switch

Producer-distributor Content Media Corporation’s move to being a privately held company has lead to full-year revenue growing 54%.

The company posted twelve-month revenue to 31 March, 2013, of £46.9 million (US$70.9 million) compared with £30.5 million for the previous year.

Within the 2013 total, revenue at Content’s TV and film production division grew £13.8 million to £23.7 million. However, the TV sales unit was largely flat, dipping slightly from £15.7 million last year to £15.5 million.

Normalised company earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation were £4.2 million, up 8%, but overall operating profit dipped slightly from £2.6 million in 2012 to £2.3 million.

Reported profit after tax was 420% up at £8.8 million, compared with £1.8 million in 2012, which Content said reflected a large gain on conversion of preference shareholdings. This gave those with this class of share a combined 50% holding in the company when it went private in June 2012.

Content CEO John Schmidt said the strong numbers were the result of developments in the company’s television and film business, including buying majority stakes in Alex Gibney’s doc firm Jigsaw Productions (Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks); and Preferred Film and Television (The Divide, The Pact).

“We took Content Media private this year after several aimless years with a public listing. This allowed us to reduce expenses, consolidate our shareholding and reorganise our board,” he said.

Today’s news comes six weeks after Content extended a key line of bank credit by securing a new US$40 million facility with JP Morgan.

London-based Content, which has bases on LA, New York and Toronto, has a content library of about 3,900 hours of TV programming, including hit BBC drama The Fall (pictured), 200 hours of digital shows such as Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn and 240 feature films.

“Our fiscal year 2013 was a critical year in several respects for Content Media Corporation. We saw significant revenue growth in our operating businesses and strong profitability. We also executed several deals that are important to our future and position us well for growth,” said Schmidt.

Other, undefined, deals are in the pipeline and will be announced soon, he added.