Profits at the multiaward winning production company behind the screen adaptations of Sally Rooney’s Normal People and Conversations with Friends more than halved last year to €2.64 million before tax.
Dublin-based Element Pictures, which was founded by Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe, is now majority-owned by UK group Fremantle following a deal in 2022 that the founders said would enable the business “to expand their capacity and continue producing television and film for international audiences”.
Last year the conveyor belt of quality drama from Element Pictures continued with the release of Poor Things starring Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo. The movie achieved a worldwide box-office of $117.6 million (€111.4m) while Emma Stone won best actress at the Oscars in March where the film was nominated for 11 awards including best picture.
Recent film releases by Element Pictures include Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness with Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons and Willem Dafoe. Mr Lanthimos’ next collaboration with Element Pictures is Bugonia starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, and is due to be released in November 2025.
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A note attached to the new accounts states that the directors “are pleased to report a trading profit for the year and are confident of consolidating that position in the coming year”.
The €2.32 million profit after tax saw the group’s accumulated profits rising to €10.32 million, a figure that has trebled in just two years.
Numbers employed by the business last year increased from 33 to 37. Mr Lowe and Mr Guiney sit on the board with Andrea Scrosati, Christian James Vesper and Stuart Jackson, and pay to directors last year totalled €503,000.
Profit before tax of €2.64 million compares with €5.6 million in 2022.
The accounts note that Element forgave connected company loans of €2.46 million in the same year it did the Fremantle deal as directors felt “there was no chance of recoverability on these loans”.
The loans written off were €2.26 million due from Picture Palace Cinema Ltd, which operates the art-house cinema Pálás in Galway city, and €196,352 due from Light House Cinema Ltd.
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