5 July 2010: BBC Worldwide Ltd, the commercial and wholly owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), today published its Annual Review for 2009/10.
The company saw revenues rise by 7% to £1074m in the 12 months to 31 March 2010, exceeding the £1bn mark for a second year.  Six of BBC Worldwide’s seven operating divisions grew sales, despite difficult trading conditions in many markets. Operating profits increased 36.5% to £145.2m, with double-digit profit growth in five divisions.

BBC Worldwide also delivered increased dividend payments to the BBC of £73.6m (2008/09: £68.4m).  This helped lift the overall cash return to the BBC to more than £150m for the second year running. 

Announcing the results, John Smith, Chief Executive of BBC Worldwide, said the full year figures reflected a very strong performance in spite of difficult conditions in some markets.

 “Today’s figures, with profits up by 36.5%, demonstrate that our strategy is working. As well as developing into a diversified global media business and extending the international visibility of the BBC brand, the company is delivering a strong financial performance. BBC Worldwide continues to give consumers around the world more and more content from the BBC and other British production companies.  This allows us to re-invest in more great content and return more cash to our parent organisation, the BBC.”

BBC Worldwide continued to make good progress in its strategic objectives:

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Sales generated overseas rose from 51.3% to 54.6% of the total (target- two thirds by 2012, from 46% in 2006);

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Revenues from digital businesses on a like for like basis rose from 4.6% to 5.5% (target - 10% by 2012, from 1% in 2006);

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The rollout of BBC-branded channels continued and sales and profits from Channels rose by 16.4% and 34.2% respectively year on year.

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A strong overseas format business has helped sales from Content & Production grow by 10.7% and profits by 4.8%.

 Further highlights in the year included:

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The top five programme brands around the world were Top Gear, Life, Planet Earth, Being Erica and Doctor Who;

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The launch episode of the most recent series of Doctor Who attracted 1.2m viewers for BBC America post year end - its biggest-ever audience;

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The Robbie Williams Electric Proms concert was broadcast to over 250 cinemas across 23 countries, setting a new Guinness World Record for the most simultaneous cinematic screenings of a live concert;

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Lonely Planet’s digital business grew strongly, up 37.2% producing 22.1% of total revenue;

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BBC.com has seen a significant 41.7% growth in revenues year on year and has 54.2m unique users

John Smith added:"BBC Worldwide once again demonstrated the depth of its...