CEO Comment

2022 was best characterized as a welcome bounce back from the malaise of Covid-19 and we performed strongly across multiple fronts.

Once again, our team engaged in an eclectic range of visual storytelling, with feature films, drama series, entertainment formats, TVCs and print campaigns all visiting our Spanish shores over the course of the year.

This diversity and breadth of work saw our financial performance rebuild with billings reaching a record level of 75.6M€ (29.4M€), with revenues at 26.52M€ (17.98M€) and EBITDA at 1.66M€ (1.23M€) for the Palma Pictures Media Production Group.

We shot projects throughout Spain, with units enjoying the varied backdrops of locations in areas such as; Mallorca, Ibiza, Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Tenerife and El Hierro.

Excitingly, we also opened for business in Portugal with our local partner being the experienced and tireless Vita Lains. Quickly securing advertising work for both Nike and Alpro, with 2023 also shaping up to be a strong year for our Iberian neighbour.

Our staff and freelance crews worked tirelessly to deliver ‘Picture Perfect Service’ to our varied clients and we were happy to enhance our talent base by welcoming Alex Grossman and Stephanie Marrou as advertising Executive Producers, as well as significantly bolstering our Scripted team with Patricia de la Uz (Senior Production Supervisor) Vicky Rostello (Production Supervisor) and Maria Alvarez (Financial Controller) also joining us.

Scripted workflows surged forwards and we collaborated on a broad range of projects including; Chapter One Pictures / Paramount ‘Sexy Beast’, Leftbank Pictures / Netflix ‘The Crown – Season 6’ and ‘Who is Erin Carter’, Character Seven / Disney ‘Culprits’ and Yash Raj Films Bollywood blockbuster ‘Pathaan’.

We finished the year with several confirmed projects in the pipeline for early ’23 and with a significant pipeline of work going forwards over the course of the year.

Our entertainment formats had a great year, with ITV Germany’s ‘Love Island – Winter Special’ and the ‘Love Island’ summer show shooting in both Tenerife and Mallorca respectively. The broadcaster also brought UK and Australian versions of ‘Love Island’ to Mallorca, as well as ‘Ready to Mingle’, also from ITV Germany.

Our advertising teams worked on projects for brands such as; TDK, Captain Morgan, Starbucks and Kelloggs, along with music videos for Labyrinth and Lewis Capaldi, whilst with photo we captured eye-catching campaigns for brands such as; Burberry, Diesel and Adidas.

Our dedicated talent agency, continued to gather momentum and delivered a record year for billings.

CSR activities continued apace and we passed our environmental audit for the twelfth year running, retaining both our ISO 14001 and EMAS certifications. Other activities included our ongoing support for local charities.

We lifted our annual investment program year on year, with 2023 due to increase further to CAPEX of 350K€ in light of increasing demand across Scripted.

Our mainland offices in Barcelona and Madrid serviced some great TVC work for brands such as ‘Apple’, ‘Polaroid’ and ‘Mr Porter’.

So, all in all, an action-packed year and one which set a firm foundation for the year ahead.

I will look forward to sharing both our challenges and successes in the next edition of our Palma Pictures Annual Report.

Mike

Mike Day
Palma Pictures CEO