Author hit West End Shows like Hamilton, Mary Poppins and Les Miserables saw profits dip last year as cost increases more than offset the boost in revenue.
Cameron Mackintosh’s eponymous company, which runs eight venues in London’s West End, including Noël Coward and the Prince of Wales Theatre, has reported a drop in profits from £45.4m to £43.2m for the end of March 2024.
The company, which is controlled by the theater tycoon, saw a healthy increase in revenue from £185.8m to £199m.
Mackintosh, 78, who went on to stage in the West End, has amassed an estimated £1.25bn fortune in a musical theater empire leading to a career that has been a huge success.
The business is credited with performing productions of Les Miserables, Mary Poppins, Hamilton, Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon in the UK and overseas markets. The touring production of Hamilton, which opened in Manchester in November 2023, is booked through to January next year.
The huge popularity of star-studded shows such as Hamilton, which cost up to £300, fueled a boom in ticket prices. The most in-demand West End show shows the highest average ticket price rose by 50% between 2013 and 2014.
“All the key titles that the company owns are more in demand than ever and show more production in the coming years,” the company filed in Companies House.
Given on the balance sheet there are three main group activities – the production and management of theatrical shows throughout the world, the operation, restoration and renovation of eight theaters in the West End. London and the exploitation of the world’s secondary theatrical rights has been usefully worked out.
The company saw revenues decline in its UK and European operations, which account for more than half of total turnover, from £113.8m to £107.9m. Revenues also declined in Australia from £2.9m to £1.69m.
However, the decline in these markets was offset by a more than 30% increase in revenue from North America, from £67m to £86.9m, due to major productions including Les Miserables, the world’s longest-running musical, which celebrates its 40th year in 2025. The company’s revenue in Asia has also risen from £1.89m to £2.2m.
Despite the overall increase in group revenues, profits were hit by increasing costs.
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The company’s total cost of sales rose from £94.5m to £106m and the average number of staff grew from 1,074 to 1,136 over the year. With total crew costs rising from £62m to £76m, the company said it was helped to maintain margins by increasing ticket prices.
The company also said that it has spent more than the initial purchase of its tickets from theaters. “Secondary spending has increased while margins and costs have been controlled,” he said. “The future of all areas of business is expected to be very strong.”
Mackintosh built his fortune by producing the original shows Les Misérables, Miss Saigon, Phantom of the Opera and Cats, and acquired the rights to some or all of his global hits.
From there he moved into theater ownership with eight venues in London, and he also owns a controlling stake in Music The theater International, the largest owner of amateur Broadway theater rights in the world.
Commissioned in 1996 for services to the British theatre, 2027 will mark Mackintosh’s sixtieth year in the industry. The first production, The Reluctant Debutant, opened at the Kenton Theater in Henley in June 1967.