A HELLUVA HALF YEAR
FOR HIPGNOSIS
Merck Mercuriadis' Hipgnosis has revealed some numbers from its fiscal H1 of 2021, the six-month period ending 9/30. As of that date, Hipgnosis controlled 146 catalogs and 65,413 songs, with an aggregate fair value of $2.55b (as determined by an independent portfolio appraiser).
The company raised $215m+ to acquire catalogs from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Christine McVie, Heart's Ann Wilson, Rhett Atkins and super-producer/songwriters The Monsters & Strangerz (Zedd, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa), formally known as Stefan and Jordan Johnson.
The Hipgnosis catalog also contains 47 of Spotify's 190 Billions Club songs. Major syncs during the period include Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams" (co-written by Dave Stewart) and Blondie's "Heart of Glass" (Debbie Harry and Chris Stein), both recently featured in trailers for House of Gucci.
Said Mercuriadis, founder of Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited and Hipgnosis Song Management Limited: “It’s incredible to think we are halfway through our fourth year! The last nine months, including this reporting period, have been a very important and exciting time in our maturation. I'm delighted to report year-on-year net revenue growth of 31%, EBITDA growth of 16% and most importantly, NAV growth of 2.5% over the past six months driven by an increase in the fair value of our catalogs. This takes the Total NAV Return delivered since our IPO less than four years ago to an incredible 46.7%.”
We raised a bunch of cash during that period as well, but it looks like it's all going towards taking our extended family to see House of Gucci over the holidays. Popcorn ain't cheap.
