Chorion to launch Olivia this month, announces record results

Kids rights holder Chorion is to launch animated series Olivia in the UK later this month following its success in the US for Nickelodeon. This comes as the company announced record financial results.

The company recorded group revenues of £46.1 million in the year to 31 December 2008 with profits of £28.4 million. This compares to revenues of £32.6 million at the end of 2005, the last year that Chorion published its figures as a listed company, with profits of £18.9 million.

Chorion, which is owned by Labour peer Waheed Ali and investment firm 3i, announced that it will launch animated series Olivia, based on the novels by Ian Falconer, later this month on UK broadcaster Five. This will be followed by roll outs internationally including ABC (Australia), YLE (Finland), SVT (Sweden) and NRK (Norway).

"Our objective is to become a global children’s media company of scale. We will achieve our aims by acquiring, creating, and developing a portfolio of popular children’s brands, launching one new children’s brand annually and by expanding our sales internationally, particularly in the key licensing and merchandising territories of the US, Japan, UK and France," says Ali.

Meanwhile, Chorion has inked a deal with Irish production company and animation house Brown Bag Films to produce the 52 part animated series Noddy in Toyland, which will also air on Five. The series has a production budget of Euro6.2 million.