Beggars Group, the UK-based indie record company founded and led by Martin Mills, that owns or co-owns XL Recordings, 4AD, Rough Trade, Matador and Young Recordings, among others, has reported a 6.5% YoY jump in turnover for 2024 and a double-digit jump in operating profit.
Beggars’ total annual revenue, including its share of joint ventures, rose to GBP £109.9 million (USD $140.4 million), while the company’s total operating profit soared 48.6% YoY to £10.5 million ($13.4 million).
The numbers for 2024 were revealed in a new filing with the UK’s Companies House on Friday (December 12).
Within the core company, sales and licensing of sound recordings was far and away the largest revenue source, accounting for £68.75 million ($87.8 million), up 34% YoY, while management charges came in at £6.46 million ($8.25 million), down 29.3% YoY.
Revenue from within the UK rose 25.2% YoY to £15.16 million ($19.4 million), while the world outside the UK accounted for £60.05 million ($76.7 million), up 24.3% YoY.
Among Beggars’ joint ventures, Matador Records, Mattitude Music, Popstock Distribuciones, XL Recordings and Mowax Labels contributed positively to operating profit, while Remote Control Records, Matador Recordings, Rough Trade Records and Rough Trade Retail Holdings posted an operating loss.
The company reported its labels had released 32 albums in 2024, down from 35 the year before.
Among the year’s highlights were Adrianne Lenker’s Bright Future, Future Islands’ People Who Aren’t There Anymore (4AD), Fontaines D.C.’s Romance, and Peggy Gou’s I Hear You (XL).
“We are pleased to report the above releases and many others appeared on multiple End of Year ‘Best of’ lists across print, online, retail and streaming channels,” the company’s directors wrote in the business review.
“Adrianne Lenker, Fontaines D.C. and Kim Gordon were nominated for Grammy Awards. Fontaines D.C. won a Brit Award for International Group of the Year.”
“Inflation continues to weigh on supply chain cost and overheads, and inevitably, label margins.”
Beggars Group
The report highlighted continuing inflation and trade policy uncertainty as two key risk areas on which directors are keeping an eye.
“Inflation continues to weigh on supply chain cost and overheads, and inevitably, label margins… The unpredictability of US trade policies, and thus a more volatile dollar, may continue to cause swings on realized and unrealized exchange movements.”
After paying no dividends in 2023, the company paid £5 million ($6.4 million) in dividends in 2024.
Calendar 2024 saw Beggars Group take a number of notable steps, including partnering with Secretly Group and Cargo Records in the UK to launch a new distribution company called Cargo Independent Distribution (CID).
The company also last year partnered with Reactional Music, a developer of tech that brings customized and reactive music to video game play, holding out the possibility that gamers will in the future be able to play to the sounds of Adele, The Prodigy, or The XX.
All currency calculations are based on the average exchange GBP-USD exchange rate for 2024, as listed by the IRS.Music Business Worldwide
