Accounts for the companies that own and operate the David Beckham brands and businesses showed another successful year in 2023.

DRJB Holdings Limited — which comprises David Beckham Ventures Limited, Seven Global LLP, and Studio 99 Group — reported underlying profit before tax more than doubling to $36.2 million, up from $16.2 million in 2022.  Total comprehensive income for the year increased to $26.7 million from $6.9 million.

It was a major year for the business as the company and its management team “solidified the new partnership with Authentic Brands Group to continue the growth and development of the David Beckham brand through strategic endorsements, innovative business models, digital content distribution and the launch of new consumer products”.

And that profits leap came despite consolidated revenue only “marginally” increasing year-on-year. It rose to $91.2 million, a 2% rise from $89.7 million in 2022 (the group changed to reporting in US dollars rather than UK pounds due to its link-up with Authentic).

Looking at the individual operations, the group said profits at David Beckham Ventures Limited, which comprises the majority of David Beckham’s brand partnership and licensing revenues, rose 17.9% to $37.5 million.

Seven Global LLP accounts for the licensing and commercialisation of the ‘David Beckham’ brands that fall outside DB Ventures Limited. This includes the partnerships with Adidas, Tudor, Safilo Eyewear, and Coty. Profits actually fell to $10.9 million from $11.9 million on revenues down to $14.1 million from $14.6 million. 

Meanwhile, Studio 99 Group, which includes the integrated creative and production studio, saw revenue rising to $15 million “as the company increased production of premium documentary series for global platforms such as Beckham for Netflix and also scaled up production of marketing campaigns for David Beckham’s brand partners”.

Since the end of the reporting period, more new commercial brand partners have been added to the portfolio with new contracts for big names such as Stella Artois, Boss, Shark Ninja and Paramount, which have been advertising heavily in recent periods.

The overall portfolio of product categories now includes sports, media and entertainment, automobile, fragrance, eyewear, luxury brands and financial services.

That’s not bad for any ex-sports star but is still pretty impressive even for one with such a huge global profile as David Beckham.

And the momentum shows no sign of slowing down. Those new contracts illustrate that fact, as does the growing social media presence for the group. In its accounts, it said that during 2023 its social media channels continued to grow, adding 16.4 million followers and bringing the total platform to 163 million followers globally. That was an increase of 23% year-on-year.

It would have been helped by the airing of Studio 99’s Beckham documentary series, which it said achieved a place in the top 10 in all 90 countries where Netflix tracks audience figures.