ITV snaps up majority stake in studio behind Sherlock and Men Behaving Badly

ITV has snapped up a majority stake in the TV production company behind smash hit shows including Sherlock, Men Behaving Badly and Amazon Prime’s The Devil’s Hour.

The media company didn’t disclose how much it had paid for the stake in Hartswood Films, but said the investment was a “further milestone” in its international expansion strategy.

ITV has added dozens of production companies to its group over the past couple of years, including Nicola Shindler’s Quay Street Productions, Happy Prince, led by Dominic Treadwell-Collins, Ben Stephenson’s Poison Pen Studios and natural history and factual entertainment firm Plimsoll Productions.

Sue Vertue, CEO of Hartswood Films, said: “Hartswood are not known for making rash decisions and it’s taken us 40 years to make this one: we are delighted therefore to have chosen to team up with ITV Studios.  

“We have always been open to investment if we could meet like-minded people who understood the need for independence which is at the ‘heart’ of Hartswood, while bringing us a whole new range of strengths and skills. 

“We are a small company and have done very well on our own, but we couldn’t be more excited about a bigger future and what we can achieve together with ITV Studios.”

ITV profit gets Love Island boost

This morning ITV reported a sharp increase in profit over the half-year as its studio business boomed on the Euros and hit-show Love Island.

On an adjusted basis, pre-tax profit rose over 50 per cent to £178m in the six months to July, despite a marginal three per cent decline in revenue, to £1.9bn. Earnings before interest, taxation and amortization (EBITA) also jumped 39 per cent to £212m.

ITV said its studios business, which has produced TV shows ranging from Mr Bates vs the Post Office to Love Island, is expected to deliver record profit annual profit, driven by higher sales and in spite of the impact of 2023’s US writers’ and actors’ strikes, which will delay around £80m of revenue.

In Media and Entertainment, adjusted EBITA grew a whopping 230 per cent, with total advertising revenue growth ahead of expectations, up 10 per cent.

It comes following a challenging set of annual results in March, in which ITV suffered a steep decline in traditional advertising revenues and set out plans to slash costs. The “restructuring and efficiency programme” is currently on track to deliver £40m of incremental in year savings in 2024.