MOS Doubles Profits

London nightclub and dance record label Ministry Of Sound last year doubled its pre-tax profits to £3.45 million ($5.5 million).

The company founded by former City Of London worker James Palumbo, who spent time with Merrill Lynch, Morgan Grenfell and Hambro Magan, turned over nearly £40 million.

Palumbo, school friend Humphrey Waterhouse and DJ Justin Berkmann started Ministry of Sound as a nightclub near London’s Elephant and Castle in 1991.

The business, which now consists of the club, a record label, bar, and publishing and clothing arms, said revenues for the 12 months ending December 2011 totaled £38.2 million, with £25 million coming from its records business.

The record company continued its shift toward digital downloaded music, boosting digital music revenues by 28 percent and improving overall gross margins on recorded music from 26.3 percent to 30.4 percent.

The firm’s nightclub operation also reported a 4.6 percent rise in attendance last year offset by a 2 percent rise in operating costs due to higher DJ fees.

Accounts show clubbers spent an average of £26.90 on a night out at the nightclub, which was down 2 percent on the year before.