Bad habits: Ed Sheeran’s music school in the red before rescue amid huge debts
The Surrey music school, whose former students include Ed Sheeran and the 1975’s Matty Healy, fell into the red before being taken over, its latest corporate filings show.
The Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) in Guildford has posted a pre-tax loss of £797,474 for its latest financial year – the 12 months to 31 August, 2024.
The loss comes after ACM reported a pre-tax profit of £3m in the prior year.
New accounts filed with Companies House also show its turnover dipped slightly from £16.9m to £16.7m over the same period.
In a statement signed off by the board, ACM said its “large swing” from profit to loss “relates almost entirely to one off exceptional administrative expenses of £3.5m”.
It added that these were in relation to parent company lending and were written off as part of the sale of ACM Guildford Limited on 7 May, 2025.
ACM owner racked up ThinCats debts
ACM Guildford immediate parent undertaking had been ACM Education whose sold director was Richard Connell, CEO of Metropolis Studios.
That company entered administration in May this year with ACM Guildford sold to Doodle Toys for £3m.
A total of £250,001 was paid on completion of the deal while the remaining £2.75m was deferred for six months and is payable on or before 31 October, 2025.
According a document filed with Companies House by administrator RSM, ACM Education owed ThinCats £3.7m when it collapsed.
Doodle Toys is a dormant company and counts Ashmeet Kandhari as its sole director.
Its parent company is RB International Holdings Limited.
Metropolis Studios in London, which is owned by ACM Guildford, has been used by the likes of Queen, Michael Jackson, U2, Lady Gaga, Courtney Hadwin, Little Mix, Adele, Rihanna and Lauryn Hill.
As well as Guildford, ACM has campuses in Birmingham and London.
Connell had resigned as a director of ACM Guildford in February 2025 but returned when its rescue had been completed.