Toy giant Hasbro has sold one of Ireland’s largest animation studios, Boulder Media, to the Australian-based Princess Pictures.
The Dublin-based Boulder Media’s animation portfolio includes work on Hasbro’s Transformers and My Little Pony franchises along with TV shows such as Go Jetters and Danger Mouse.
New accounts for the multi-award-winning Boulder Media Ltd show it declared three dividends last month with a cumulative total of €8.7 million before the sale of Princess Pictures closed on October 17th.
The financial terms of the sale have not been disclosed.
On the deal, Boulder Media’s general manager Jenni MacNeaney told online US entertainment industry publication Deadline, “this synergetic relationship opens up unique opportunities for our future slate and enables us to amplify our creative offering in the market”.
She said: “It’s an exciting step forward in building the Boulder brand, one that values the great work we’ve produced over the last 22 years, while setting us up for future success.”
Managing director of Princess Pictures Emma Fitzsimons told Deadline: “Boulder Media has an established reputation in kids’ animation production and we’re going to add a new focus: prime-time adult comedy production.”
Hasbro purchased Boulder Media in 2016 and the new accounts show the company last year recorded a 22 per cent drop in pretax profits to €2 million.
This followed revenues decreasing 38 per cent from €28.18 million to €17.54 million.
The accounts – signed off on October 24th – show that numbers employed by the business last year declined from 326 to 195, made up of 175 production staff, 18 administration staff and two management staff.
The directors for Boulder Media say they are satisfied with the company’s performance for 2021 and “are confident that the company will continue to be profitable in the future”.
Separate figures provided by the Revenue Commissioners show that Boulder Media was active across a number of productions last year.
The figures show the business was last year able to avail of corporate tax credits of €1 million-€2 million for its Transformers: BotBots, €500,000-€1 million for My Pony Life Season 2, and €500,000-€1 million for DC Super Hero Girls Series 2.
The business last year recorded operating profits of €2.13 million and interest payments of €132,634 reduced profits to a pretax profit of €2 million.
