The Stage

Qdos announces record sales of £18m for 2008/9 season

Published Tuesday 17 February 2009 at 14:50 by Alistair Smith

Pantomime company Qdos has recorded another increase in year on year sales, with its 2008/9 season taking more than £18 million at the box office.

Qdos produced 21 shows across the UK last Christmas - two more than the previous year. At the 19 venues which were included in both seasons, sales were up, like for like, by around 2% - £300,000.

Meanwhile, the two additional theatres, Nottingham Theatre Royal and the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon, brought in an extra £1.4 million. In 2007/8, Qdos took around £16.5 million at the box office.

“Notably, the cities were up and the smaller towns were down. It was a complete pattern,” Nick Thomas told The Stage. “I think there are more people with more money in the cities at the moment.”

He added that Qdos was not planning to increase the number of pantomimes the company was going to produce next season.

“We were really pleased with these figures all in all,” he said. “To be doing a real 2% uplift like for like is great. Profits will be like for like the same, plus the extra couple of shows we have done. If you’re standing still in a recession, you can’t complain.”