Double-Digit Profit Growth for BBC Worldwide

LONDON, July 8: For the year ending March 31, 2008, BBC
Worldwide reported a 17-percent increase in operating profit to £117.7 million,
on revenues that were 13-percent higher at £916.3 million.

The commercial arm of the British pubcaster also reported
that the proportion of its sales outside of the U.K. rose to 49 percent from 46
percent.

BBC Worldwide Sales & Distribution saw revenues dip
slightly to £212.9 million, while profit rose to £46.7 million. Sales to Europe were up 3.4 percent to
£116.1 million and profits grew almost 7 percent to £30.8 million. Sales to the
Americas of were down slightly to £69.1 million but profits more than doubled
to £6.9 million. In the rest of the world, sales grew 6.9 percent year on year,
with profit up 5.9 percent to £9 million, helped by the explosion of new
video-on-demand customers. The highest grossing titles titles were Doctor
Who, Planet Earth, Top Gear,
Spooks and Robin Hood.

Channels reported revenues of £183.8 million, an 8.8-percent
rise. Profit, meanwhile, dropped from £20.9 million to £12.6 million. In the
Content & Production segment, revenues gained 35.9 percent to £68.5
million, while profit doubled to £14.2 million. Digital Media reported a
57.6-percent increase in profits to £21.9 million, but the division’s loss
widened to £10.9 million. The new Global Brands business reported £23.1 million
in revenues, with a £2.1 million loss. BBC Home Entertainment saw its profits
rise more than 50 percent to £40.5 million, on increased revenues of £228.2
million.

“BBC Worldwide has achieved another year of double-digit
profit growth, while also making significant strategic investments in new
businesses to prepare the company for the digital media world,” said John
Smith, the chief executive of BBC Worldwide. “The continued international
appeal of our content and formats, coupled with high demand for home
entertainment and the strengthening in key markets of our channels and production
operations, has enabled the company to report very good results.”

Mark
Thompson, the director-general of the BBC, commented: "Today's figures
from BBC Worldwide once again demonstrate its importance to the Corporation. It
generates profits and dividends that the BBC can reinvest in making outstanding
programs and developing online applications for the benefit of all license fee
payers. Increasingly I believe partnerships, like those we have with Virgin
Media, or as in the proposed joint venture Kangaroo, will be critical in
delivering future success for BBC Worldwide."

While BBC Worldwide celebrated its results, Smith warned
that profits for this year would likely be impacted by current economic
conditions, noting that the company plans further significant investments in
new businesses, such as Kangaroo, the commercial media player currently being
developed with ITV and Channel 4. Smith also announced a strategic review to
improve the performance of the children’s business and the closure of
Audiocall, the telephone services business where payments to charities were
wrongly withheld last year.

—By Mansha Daswani