But comedy production company fears profit squeeze

Comedy production company Hat Trick has recorded a £5.3 million pre-tax profit – but warned that finances are being squeezed by an advertising slump and the freeze in the BBC licence fee.

The company, majority owned by former comedian Jimmy Mulville, makes such hits as Outnumbered, Have I Got News For You, Facejacker and the Matt LeBlanc sitcom Episodes.

It has just posted its accounts, based on a £22million turnover, in the 18 months ending at the end of 2010.

In their report, directors said they had a ‘very strong 18 months producing programmes for BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1, Channel 4 and US channel Showtime’.

They said: ‘Hat Trick places real emphasis on a culture of creativity, for this to flourish we realise risks must be allowed to be taken, and we strive to remain an ideas-lead company.

‘We believe our friendly size but professional approach provides an enjoyable and productive environment for people working at Hat Trick. In the fight to attract and retain great people (on screen and off) we feel this strength can be a key point of differentiation between the company and others in the industry.

They note: ‘There has been a proliferation in the number of companies excelling at making innovative programming across all genres, which means we need to work even harder to source commission for new programme ideas.

‘We have seen production margins squeezed as the advertising market went into recession together with BBC cutbacks. Although the market rebounded in 2010, resulting in signs of increased commissioning, it is unlikely we will see margins returning to pre-recession levels in the near future.

We also expect the recent BBC licence fee settlement freezing it until 2016/17 to exert downward pressure on programme prices.'

The company’s profits after tax were £5million, up from £1.3 million the previous year.

Published: 18 Sep 2011