While so many people are facing challenging financial times, Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling is laughing all the way to Gringotts Bank as her TV and stage company has just revealed a £6.9 million annual profit.
And given she also has a personal fortune of about £820 million, you may be forgiven for asking why her companies ever felt the need to claim taxpayer-funded Covid handouts.
J K’s companies received cash both from the UK’s furlough programme and a US grant called the Shuttered Location Operators Grant. This was after her Harry Potter shows were closed in the West End as well on Broadway.
The profit was reported by her firm Bronte Film and Television Ltd, which oversees TV dramatisations of her Cormoran Strike detective novels and is the ultimate parent of the companies that take money from the stage productions of Harry Potter And The Cursed Child from across the world – Harry Potter Theatrical Productions Ltd and HP West End Ltd.
The £6.9 million profit, up to the end of October 2020, was a jump of £2.2 million on the previous year, and the company is sitting on a cash surplus of £14 million.
Bronte’s annual report, filed at Companies House, disclosed that the profit came despite a small fall in turnover to £17 million, from £18 million the previous year.
After her Harry Potter shows closed in the West End and on Broadway, J K Rowling’s companies received cash from the UK’s furlough programme and a US fund called The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant.
The profit was reported by her firm Bronte Film and Television Ltd, which oversees TV dramatisations of her Cormoran Strike detective novels and is the ultimate parent of the companies that take money from the stage productions of Harry Potter And The Cursed Child (pictured at the Palace Theatre in London) from across the world – Harry Potter Theatrical Productions Ltd and HP West End Ltd.
The £6.9 million profit, up to the end of October 2020, was a jump of £2.2 million on the previous year, and the company is sitting on a cash surplus of £14 million (Pictured: Harry Potter theatre production in Melbourne, Australia)
In the report, company director Neil Blair, J K’s literary agent, told how income was ‘driven by fees and profit shares for theatrical productions’ but that all five Harry Potter shows – in London, New York, Melbourne, San Francisco and Hamburg – had to close in March last year as the pandemic struck.
HP West End claimed £665,402 in furlough cash in the first half of this year, the only period for which figures have been released.
The Bronte report confirms Harry Potter Theatrical Productions Ltd received grants from the equivalent of furlough in the USA. The figure could not be found.
It is not possible to say that JK supervised the furlough claims decision.
The London show reopened in October, and the Broadway production opens in November 12.
Melbourne reopened in February after being closed for more than a month.
It is not possible to say that JK supervised the decision to grant furlough claims.
In the next few months, there could be new shows in Tokyo and Toronto as well as some of the existing ones.
A spokesperson for Harry Potter And The Cursed Child said that the Covid-19 measures had prevented theatres from opening and that the producers were committed to the financial survival the production, which is part of an industry in crisis.
“With ticket sales being halted, the producers have a responsibility towards staff, casts, investors, and the West End’s major productions to save costs and investigate any support available, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme if applicable, insurance claims, or any other government loans or measures until theatres can reopen.
The seven-month-old daughter of Pippa Middleton has enjoyed her first ‘Royal Command Performance’.
Grace Elizabeth Jane – second child of Pippa and financier husband James Matthews – was baptised in front of Pippa’s sister Kate, Prince William and their children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
Daniel Nicholls, Kate’s former piano tutor, is said to have provided the music for the christening at St Mary the Virgin in Bucklebury, Berkshire, near the Middleton family home. Pippa has a three-year old son, Arthur.