A live performance from Dublin-based Lankum, which Beggars Group said achieved commercial success with False Lankum last year. Photo Credit: Paul Hudson
Beggars Group labels including XL, Rough Trade, and 4AD achieved a double-digit improvement in overall revenue during 2023 thanks in part to a material sales spike outside the UK.
London-headquartered Beggars Group just recently revealed its 2023 financials in a Companies House filing. All told, the year delivered 35 albums (up from 31 in 2022) across the company’s labels, with “commercial successes” including but not limited to Queens of the Stone Age’s In Times New Roman…, Romy’s Mid Air, and Lankum’s False Lankum.
Despite the relatively small increase in the number of label projects, Beggars disclosed $135.97 million/£103.18 million in revenue (including JVs), with $79.55 million/£60.41 million having derived specifically from non-JVs.
Behind the latter sum, core music sales and licensing contributed $67.51 million/£51.27 million (up 13.7 percent YoY), with the remaining $12.04 million/£9.14 million (up 23.7 percent YoY) attributable to the management side.
Geographically, the breakdown points to slightly reduced UK revenue of $15.96 million (£12.12 million) in 2023 – and a comparatively substantial £48.29 million from all other markets. That’s up a noteworthy 20.1 percent YoY, though it’s worth reiterating that the UK sum had jumped by north of $2.63 million (£2 million) across 2021 and 2022.
Nevertheless, total operating profit slipped by 11.4 percent YoY to $9.30 million (£7.06 million), per Beggars Group’s 2023 report.
Post-tax, total profit came in at $7.91 million (£6.01 million) for the non-JV labels of Beggars, which acknowledged YoY increases for cost of sales ($17.79 million/£13.51 million, up 15.2 percent YoY), distribution expenses ($7.93 million/£6.02 million, up 54.4 percent YoY), and admin expenses ($48.76 million/£37.30 million, up 11.6 percent YoY).
Meanwhile, a further $745,763 (£566,370) hit stemmed from exchange-rate fluctuations concerning investments in foreign operations, contributing to comprehensive 2023 income of $6.65 million (£5.06 million), the report shows.
As a pertinent aside, the above figures pertain to the label group’s aforementioned divisions, not the overarching Beggars Group itself. Beggars proper, the resource spells out, “has not presented its own profit and loss account in these financial statements.”
“The profit before tax of the parent company for the year was £14,200 [$18,697] (2022 – £16,035,317 [$21.11 million]) and the loss after tax was £75,756 [$99,738] (2022 – profit of £16,069,803 [$21.16 million]),” the relevant text reads of the multifaceted organizational structure at hand.
In any event, Beggars’ annual report acknowledges an average of 163 employees (including directors) for 2023, up from 156 in 2022. Overall, the individuals’ wages and salaries came out to $17.26 million (£13.11 million), up from $15.21 million (£11.55 million) in 2022 and excluding another £2 million or so in social security as well as pension costs.
