Sharon laughs all the way to bank as firm takes in €59m
SHARON Horgan’s TV and movie production firm recorded combined revenues of €59.2million across 2022 and 2021 on the back of global hits such as the multi-awardwinning, Bad Sisters.
That is according to the first set of consolidated accounts for Merman Television Ltd which writer, director, producer and actor, Ms Horgan built up with now ex-husband, Jeremy Rainbird and co-founder, Clelia Mountford.
On the back of Ms Horgan’s writing, the London-based production firm’s business has grown exponentially due to the worldwide success of the critically acclaimed productions such as Divorce, Motherland, Catastrophe and Bad Sisters, which won four Iftas including Best Drama and one Bafta for Best Drama in 2023.
The new accounts lodged with Companies House in the UK show that the
Offices in London and California
group recorded post-tax profits of €500,484 and revenues of €26.83 million for 2022.
The group recorded revenues of €32.37million for the ‘exceptional’ 2021 as a result of productions slated to start in 2020 being pushed back to 2021 due to Covid-19. The group recorded post-tax profits of €1.28million for 2021.
Merman Television has offices in London and California and in its report on 2022, the directors state that they ‘are pleased to report a successful trading period for the group companies due to the progression made on a number of key productions’.
Ms Horgan has received two nominations, both for the drama series Bad Sisters in the Emmy awards, which were due to be held in September last but were delayed due to the writers’ strike in Hollywood.
The awards will now be held on Monday, and will celebrate TV shows aired from June 2022 and May 2023, including Succession, The White Lotus, Ted Lasso and The Last of Us, all of which are among those going into the night with the largest number of nominations.
Season 2 of Bad Sisters is also now being developed.
The accounts sound a note of caution. They state that ‘production and overhead costs again remained under close control’.
Separate documents lodged with Companies House show that Mr Rainbird received just under €1million in a share-deal when exiting Merman Television last year. He stepped down as director of the business on January 17 last year and documents show that on the same day, the company paid Mr Rainbird €988,817 for 3,000 ordinary shares of the firm in a ‘Buyback Agreement’.
Documentation shows that after the transaction, Mr Rainbird retained another 3,000 shares of the overall 20,000 ordinary shares in the business where Ms Horgan retains a significant shareholding.