Netflix UK Profits Soar By $28M As Tax Bill Doubles

Netflix saw profits shoot up in the UK last year while its tax bill doubled.

The streamer, which for just the third year was publishing revenue from UK subscribers via its Netflix Services UK subsidiary, saw operating profit rise by 70%, or £22M, to £53.7M ($70M). Of equally good news for the SVoD, Netflix’s “member base” aka subscribers rose by 7%, double the increase on the previous year, while there was a rise in the “average number of paid memberships and an increase in average monthly revenue per paying membership,” according to the Companies House filing.

The filing doesn’t give away subs numbers but ratings body Barb’s latest report from Q2 reported that Netflix was in 17.1 million UK homes, up by about 400,000 from Q1.

The results pertain to a year in which Netflix released big UK hits including the final seasons of The Crown and Top Boy, and the Beckham documentary. Netflix UK revenue increased by 8% to £1.7B, a smaller rise than the prior year’s 12%.

Notably, the streamer’s tax bill doubled to £14.2M, a far bigger increase than the year before when it only went up marginally.

That tax bill may satisfy those that had pressured Netflix several years back to start declaring its true UK revenue amid reports investigating its low bill. British lawmaker Dame Margaret Hodge accused the company of a “superhighway robbery” at the time.

Netflix has continued to push on in the UK this year, launching hits including Fool Me Once, Baby Reindeer, The Gentlemen and Bridgerton. It surprised audiences yesterday when news emerged that it had canceled Greek mythology retelling Kaos. Late last month, the streamer’s latest data dump revealed just how much Brits had dominated the most-watched TV shows on the platform.

Netflix’s Q3 results are due out shortly in the U.S. The prior quarter saw 8 million subscribers added as revenues of $9.6B and earnings per share came in just ahead of Wall Street analysts’ consensus expectations.