Amazon’s online rental subsidiary LoveFilm slumped into loss last year after mounting costs offset sharp rise in sales

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Published: 17:03 EDT, 21 September 2013 | Updated: 06:42 EDT, Где посмотреть фильм lostfilm 22 September 2013

Amazon’s online film and DVD subsidiary LoveFilm slumped into a loss last year after mounting costs offset a sharp rise in sales.

The group, which was taken over by the US group in 2010, saw sales jump from £108.3 million to £124.4 million last year.

But the company officially made a loss of £89.9 million after the cost of investing in digital technology, interest payments on debts and other expenses. The losses meant the group was awarded a £2 million tax credit by HM Revenue and Customs.

Slump: The company officially made a loss of £89.9m after the cost of investing in digital technology, interest payments on debts and other expenses

In 2010 just before Amazon, which has faced controversy over its low tax bill, acquired the whole company, LoveFilm made a £6.3 million profit on a turnover of £90.6 million and paid  £2.5 million in corporation tax.

LoveFilm, which has attracted 2 million subscribers in Britain and Germany since its launch in 2004, is pushing into online streaming of films and programmes rather than its original model of DVD rentals.

A key offering which has proved a huge hit in the US is Under The Dome, based on a science fiction novel by Stephen King.

It is set in a small town which gets cut off from the rest of the world by a mysterious force field.