Revenues, losses and net liabilities all grew at art house streaming firm Mubi UK in the calendar year to end of December 2022, the company has disclosed.
The company posted its annual trading statement in the last available week before the U.K.’s nine-month deadline for filing. And it reveals more information about itself than in previous years.
The latest accounts showed that revenue grew by 53% in the January-December 2022 period, from £9.58 million ($11.7 million) to £14.7 million ($17.9 million). Net losses, after taking a tax credit of £969,000 ($1.18 million) for research and development, deepened from a £474,000 ($578,000) figure in 2021 to £2.53 million ($3.09 million) last year.
Reacting to PvNew‘s report, the company said “Mubi UK Limited is one of multiple subsidiarycompanies and these financialresults taken in isolation do not provide an accurate picture of MUBI’s overall activity.”
Since its establishment in 2007, the U.K. company has made profits in only two years 2019 and 2020, the first year of COVID.
There is no analysis of the sources or geographical origin of Mubi’s revenue, nor it leap. Similarly, it does not disclose operational details such as subscriber numbers, monthly average users or churn rates.
In January 2022, the Mubi group of companies announced that they had acquired Match Factory, the Cologne, Germany-based sales and production company, but it is not clear that Match Factory’s figures are reported as part of Mubi UK. Match Factory is not mentioned by name in Mubi UK’s accounts and the firm mentions international expansion only in a footnote on market conditions.
Staff numbers also grew by 34% from 82 in 2021 to 110 in 2022, with founder Efe Cakarel listed as the sole director. He paid himself an annual salary of £250,000 (£305,000), the accounts reveal.
The deepening losses also worsened Mubi UK’s overall financial position. Net liabilities increased from £8.69 million ($10.6 million) to £11.2 million ($13.7 million) and the company’s auditors approved the statement of accounts on a “going concern basis,” meaning that Mubi UK could be insolvent, but for the fact that nobody has called in its debts. The accounts explain that the debts are owed to the New York-based Mubi Inc., which is described as Mubi UK’s “ultimate parent.” And the accounts make clear that Mubi UK benefits from a $20 million loan that is available to the company until April 2028.
“The director [Cakarel] is confident that company will obtain a stronger financial position in the future as the Mubi brand grows stronger and the number of subscribers in the U.K. increase. The director also believes that the company well placed to successfully manage its business risk,” the statement reads.
