Revenues and profits fell at Poor Things super-indie Fremantle last year as the outfit’s lofty €3B ($3.2B) revenue target draws ever nearer.
In a difficult market, Fremantle’s turnover fell slightly by 3.5% to €2.26B, while adjusted EBITA was down by the sharper 14.2% to €139M.
Fremantle’s €3B revenue target set for 2025/26 has been well publicized and the company now has just a year to achieve the goal.
After the results period unveiled today, Fremantle spent more than €200M ($216M) on Death in Paradise group Asacha Media Group and 80% of Singapore’s Beach House Pictures. This followed a quiet 2023 for acquisitions.
Fremantle owner RTL said today that it still aims to achieve the €3B target and will continue to invest across “entertainment, drama and film, and documentaries – both organically and via acquisitions.”
It added that Fremantle’s Adjusted EBITA margin is expected to increase to 9% by 2026.
The super-indie had a good creative year culminating in an Oscars where Element Pictures-produced Poor Things scooped four gongs and other highlights cited including Showtime’s Fellow Travellers, the revitalized Neighbours on Amazon Freevee and Disney+’s The Good Mothers, which won a Berlinale Series Award.
Fremantle’s slight dip alongside a weaker year for the ad market led RTL revenues to fall by 5.4% to €6.2B, with adjusted EBITA similar to Fremantle down 15.2% to €782M.
“Our strategic framework remains unchanged,” said RTL CEO Thomas Rabe. “It will continue to guide us in 2024: to strengthen our core businesses, to grow our streaming and content businesses, and to build alliances and partnerships.”
He added that the Bertelsmann division had “demonstrated the resilience of our businesses in a particularly challenging environment” through the period.”
