Spotify: UK adverts boom helps sales and profit surge

Profit at the UK arm of Spotify increased thanks to its revenue jumping closer to the £300m during its latest financial year, it has been revealed.

The music streaming giant has reported a pre-tax profit of £22.3m for 2023, according to newly-filed accounts with Companies House.

The total comes after Spotify posted a pre-tax profit of £16.7m for the prior 12 months.

The business has also reported a revenue of £269m for the year, a rise from £225.3m in 2022.

The UK division’s main operation is the resale of advertising inventory to third parties and to provide support services to its parent company.

Spotify said its revenue increased mainly as a result of a rise in the sale of adverts and intercompany services.

Spotify’s international sales fall back

Spotify generated £67.3m from the sale of advertisements, up from £52.6m, while its revenue from intercompany services rose from £172.7m to £201.6m.

The business made a revenue of £44.2m from the sale of adverts in the UK, up from £31.9m. In Ireland, its revenue also increased from £1.7m to £2.5m.

However, the division’s sales in Germany fell from £3.1m to £2.6m, from £2.1m to £1.6m in France, from £1.8m to £1.6m in Switzerland and from £1.7m to £1.2m in the US.

During the year the average number of people employed by Spotify UK increased from 933 to 1,039.

The UK accounts come after the wider Spotify group reported a revenue of €13.2m for 2023, up from €11.7bn.

However, its pre-tax loss widened from €370m to €505m over the same period.

For its first quarter of 2024, Spotify posted a revenue of €3.6bn, up from €3bn, while it surged from making a pre-tax loss of €206m to a profit of €174m.

The group also reported a revenue of €3.8bn for its second quarter, a rise from €3.1bn, while it went from making a pre-tax loss of €241m to a profit of €270m.

The Sweden-headquartered business cut its global workforce by 17 per cent last year in a bid to reduce costs.