Surge in revenues at animation studio

Revenues at Kilkenny-based Cartoon Saloon increased by €2m  from €11.4m to €13.4m in 2021

Nora Twomey, director of the Oscar-nominated The Breadwinner and a co-founder of Cartoon Salon.

The current boom in demand for content from streaming services helped revenues surge by €2m to €13.4m at five-time Oscar-nominated animation studio Cartoon Saloon in 2021.

New consolidated accounts show revenues at the Kilkenny-based Cartoon Saloon Ltd increased by €2m or 17.5% from €11.4m to €13.4m in 2021.

During the same period, pre-tax profits declined by 21% from €2m to €1.58m and the main factor behind the drop in pre-tax profits was investment income declining by €262,969 from €462,261 in 2020 to €197,292 in 2021.

A €1.17m increase in staff costs to €7.5m also contributed to a €297,000 decline in operating profits from €1.297m in 2020 to €1m in 2021.

The studio today has a crew of over 200 artists and technicians in production and project development and directors say the business “has continued to achieve steady growth in recent years”.

They say the €13.4m in revenues achieved allowed the firm “to generate significant profits in a challenging industry”.

The largest contributor to Cartoon Saloon Ltd’s revenues was work on Cartoon Saloon co-founder and director, the Nora Twomey-directed My Father’s Dragon work for Netflix.

The accounts show Cartoon Saloon Ltd provided services to the value of €7.8m to connected firm My Father’s Dragon Productions in 2021 and this followed €5.82m under the same heading in 2020.

In total, the Cartoon Saloon provided services to the value of €12m to connected companies in 2021.

The directors say “they are confident that the group has the ability to compete successfully and grow its market share and continued to streamline cost base as appropriate to ensure that it remains competitive”.

A breakdown of revenues shows Cartoon Saloon generated €13.06m from animation services, €280,226 from merchandise sales and €55,229 from royalty/rights income.

Co-founding directors, Paul Young, Tomm Moore, and Nora Twomey invoiced Cartoon Saloon for subcontracted work to the value of €344,220 during 2021.

The accounts show a large proportion of costs relate to freelance consultants, who shared €2.34m in 2021 compared to €642,955 under that heading in 2020.

The amount Cartoon Saloon paid out in charity contributions more than tripled to €61,006 in 2021.

In 2021, the studio landed its fifth Oscar nomination for its hand-drawn film Wolfwalkers which is currently available on Apple+ TV.

In 2021, the firm received a boost when WarnerMedia Kids & Family greenlit Silly Sundays for its new Cartoonito preschool block on HBO Max and Cartoon Network.

The Cartoon Saloon show is due to premiere this year.

Numbers employed by Cartoon Saloon increased from 144 to 165 in 2021, as staff costs rose from €6.33m to €7.5m.

Accumulated profits at the company totalled €5.48m while the company’s cash fund declined from €3.02m to €1.87m.

The profit takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €244,721.

The studios have previously received Oscar nominations for Late Afternoon, The Breadwinner, Song of the Sea, and The Secret of Kells.