Revenues and profits fell at Poor Things super-indie Fremantle last year as the outfit’s lofty €3B ($3.2B) revenue target draws ever nearer.In a difficult market, Fremantle’s turnover fell slightly by 3.5% to €2.26B, while adjusted EBITA was down by the sharper 14.2% to €139M.Fremantle’s €3B revenue target set for 2025/26 has been well publicized and the company now has just a year to achieve the goal.After the results period unveiled today, Fremantle spent more than €200M ($216M) on Death in Paradise group Asacha Media Group and 80% of Singapore’s Beach House Pictures. This followed a quiet 2023 for acquisitions.Fremantle owner RTL said today that it still aims to achieve the €3B target and will continue to invest across “entertainment, drama and film, and documentaries – both organically and via acquisitions.”It added that Fremantle’s Adjusted EBITA margin is expected to increase to 9% by 2026.The super-indie had a good creative year culminating in an Oscars where Element Pictures-produced Poor Things scooped four gongs and other highlights cited including Showtime’s Fellow Travellers, the revitalized Neighbours on Amazon Freevee and Disney+’s The Good Mothers, which won a Berlinale Series Award.Fremantle’s slight dip alongside a weaker year for the ad market led RTL revenues to fall by 5.4% to €6.2B, with adjusted EBITA similar to Fremantle down 15.2% to €782M.“Our strategic framework remains unchanged,” said RTL CEO Thomas Rabe. “It will continue to guide us in 2024: to strengthen our core businesses, to grow our streaming and content businesses, and to build alliances and partnerships.”He added that the Bertelsmann division had “demonstrated the resilience of our businesses in a particularly challenging environment” through the period.”
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