The owners of Adele’s record label have cashed in on the Tottenham singer’s record-breaking success by paying themselves a £24 million dividend.
Accounts for XL Recordings show founder Richard Russell and business partner Martin Mills’ Beggars Group each collected £12 million in April.
Ladbroke Grove-based XL is home to Radiohead, The Prodigy, Jack White and rising Peckham rap singer King Krule but Adele remains the star performer, despite not releasing an album since 21, featuring hit single Rolling in the Deep, in 2011.
“Back-catalogue sales of Adele continued to account for a significant proportion of the sales and profit,” said the 2012 accounts.
Turnover fell from £111.7 million to £78.6 million, with pre-tax profit dropping to £25.4 million against £41.6 million.
XL warned of another fall this year because the Skyfall singer will not be releasing a record. The independent label was able to pay the £24 million windfall as the owners had not taken a divi since collecting £17 million in 2011.
Adele has smashed records around the world with 21, the second-best-selling studio album in British history after The Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper.
