Telegraph 11 Agosto 2008

Flavio Briatore, the flamboyant boss of Renault's Formula One team, has good reason to smile, despite his outfit languishing fifth in the standings after last week's Hungarian Grand Prix.

The latest accounts for his British-based company, Stacourt, which owns the broadcast rights to F1 in Spain, show that he pocketed £5.8m last year as the sport's popularity accelerated in the country.

Briatore's windfall comprised a £1.1m dividend and £4.7m in consultancy fees paid to Formula FB Business, his Virgin ­Islands-based company. His total take - £1m up on the previous year - follows an improvement in Stacourt's performance.

In 2007 its turnover rose by 14 per cent to £12.1m, with the vast majority of this coming from a deal with Telecinco, the Spanish broadcaster, which screens F1 in Spain. Stacourt's after-tax profits surged by 42 per cent year-on-year to £675,000 and the results are sure to make CVC, the private equity firm that owns F1's commercial rights-holder, envious.

The deal with Briatore's business is the only known case where F1's TV rights are in the hands of a third party which sells them on. The Spanish rights were handed to Briatore by his close friend Bernie Ecclestone, F1's boss. The two have worked jointly on numerous ventures; they bought Queens Park Rangers, the football club, last year, which they now co-own with Lakshmi Mittal, the steel magnate.

Ecclestone gave Briatore the Spanish rights three years before CVC bought into the F1 Group in 2005. When Stacourt was incorporated in 2002, F1 was not shown on free-to-air broadcasting in Spain as none of the national channels had bid for the rights. But Briatore, the manager of Fer­nando Alonso, the young Spanish driver, made him a driver with his Renault team in 2003. Alonso boosted the value of the Spanish rights by winning world championships with Renault in 2005 and 2006.

However, Stacourt's growth may slow. Telecinco will no longer broadcast F1 from 2009 until at least 2013, having lost out to the Spanish La Sexta channel.

By Christian Sylt and Caroline Reid

Source >  Telegraph