Art storage business has lucrative year

A record year of trading for the Momart art storage business has driven good profits for parent company Falkland Islands Holdings, whose end of year results show a 7.5% increase in group revenue from £35.6 million to £38.3 million, a 10.8% increase in underlying tax profits, which have risen from £3.29 million to £3.65 million, and underlying basic earnings per share of 22.2p, up from 21.6p in 2013.

Momart, a British company specialising in the storage, transportation and installation of works of art, has received a number of prestigious major exhibition contracts during the year including Manet: Portraying Life at the Royal Academy, Ellen Gallagher: AxMe at Tate Modern, David Bowie: Is and Masterpieces of Chinese Painting at the V & A, the Portrait of Vienna at the National Gallery, Vikings: Life and Legend at the British Museum and the Houghton Revisited Exhibition at Houghton Hall.

The company said that a strong roster of exhibitions and high level of capacity utilisation for gallery services and storage resulted in a record year, with a 12% increase in revenues, which rose from £16.30 million to £18.26 million and an increase in underlying profit of 53.1%, up from £1.19 million to £1.83 million.

David Hudd, Chairman of FIH, said: “We are pleased to report another good year of progress for the Group, with encouraging revenue and profit growth. Momart delivered a record year as it benefited from the strength of the international art market, supporting prestigious exhibitions and utilising a high level of capacity in gallery services and storage.”