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Company No. 00954009 · Incorporated 12 May 1969

The Random House Group Limited

Registered name: THE RANDOM HOUSE GROUP LIMITED

Part of Bertelsmann UK Limited group

The Random House Group Limited made £275m revenue and £19.4m profit in the year to 31 Dec 2025.

The Random House Group Limited’s revenue grew 8% to £275m in the year to 31 Dec 2025, with £19.4m profit and 1,939 employees. The company is classified under “book publishing” and is based in London; we hold 4 years of its filed accounts.

Full P&L filedSection J · Information and communicationSIC 58110Book publishing
Status
Active
Location
London, London
Age
57 yrs · since 1969
Type
Private Limited Company

Part of a group. The filing indicates this company sits within a group structure, so its results may depend on intra-group trading and it may be hard to replicate independently.

Latest accounts · year to 31 Dec 2025

Key figures

Revenue
£275m
Growth ▲7.7%
Profit
£19.4m
Growth ▼14.1%
Profit margin
7.1%
Gross 52.8%
Employees
1,939
Change ▲20%
Profit / employee
£10k
Revenue/employee £142k
Profitable streak
4yrs
Consecutive profitable years in our data

Badges are automated estimates derived from the filed figures — not statements of fact about the company.

4 filed years

Financial history

Multi-year financials, oldest to newest
Year to31 Dec 202231 Dec 202331 Dec 202431 Dec 2025
DisclosureFull P&LFull P&LFull P&LFull P&L
Profit & loss
Revenue (turnover)£232m£262m£255m£275m
Cost of sales£113m£123m£116m£130m
Gross profit£119m£139m£139m£145m
Operating profit£39.2m£33.9m£37.7m£35.9m
Profit before tax£38.9m£29.2m£31.6m£28.3m
Profit after tax£31.9m£20.5m£22.6m£19.4m
Profit (best available)£31.9m£20.5m£22.6m£19.4m
Staff costs£87.7m£96m£93.2m£129m
Employees (average)1,5231,5761,6161,939
Ratios
Profit margin13.8%7.8%8.9%7.1%
Gross margin51.2%53.1%54.7%52.8%
Revenue per employee£152k£166k£158k£142k
Profit per employee£21k£13k£14k£10k
Growth (year on year)
Revenue growth—▲13.2%▼2.7%▲7.7%
Profit growth—▼35.8%▲10.4%▼14.1%
Headcount growth—▲3.5%▲2.5%▲20%
Balance sheet — indirect signals, not revenue
Cash at bank£956k£877k£196k£193k
Net assets£158m£106m£110m£111m
Fixed assets£81.6m£92.6m£130m£109m
Current assets£351m£395m£430m£503m
Debtors£7.7m£3.1m£3.5m£2.8m
Deferred income£51.1m£52m£47.4m£50.3m
SourceFullAccounts · bulk data Sep 2024FullAccounts · bulk data Sep 2024FullAccounts · bulk data Sep 2025FullAccounts · bulk data Sep 2026
Derived from the latest filing

How the business works

Profit margin
7.1%
Profit ÷ revenue.
Gross margin
52.8%
Gross profit ÷ revenue. High for software and services.
Revenue per employee
£142k
Revenue ÷ average employees.
Profit per employee
£10k
Profit ÷ average employees.
Cash conversion
—
Cash generated from operations ÷ operating profit. Needs a cash-flow statement.
Fixed assets ÷ revenue
39.8%
Capital intensity. Low = capital-light, cheaper to start.
Deferred income ÷ revenue
18.3%
Customers paying upfront (subscriptions, deposits). Approximate when combined with accruals.
Debtors ÷ revenue
1%
Money owed by customers. Low = customers pay quickly.
Indirect — not revenue

Balance-sheet signals

Year-on-year changes in filed balance-sheet items. They can hint at momentum (or investment) but are not revenue or profit and must not be read as such.

Net assets
▲1%
Now £111m
Cash at bank
▼1%
Now £193k
Headcount
▲20%
Now 1,939
Deferred income
▲6%
Now £50.3m
Fixed assets
▼16%
Now £109m

Deferred income is reported together with accruals in this filing (“accruals and deferred income”), so it is an approximate signal only.

Corporate ownership

Group structure

Ownership chain

  1. Bertelsmann UK Limitedultimate parent75–100%
  2. Penguin Random House Limited75–100%
  3. The Random House Group Limitedthis company

Bands show the share of ownership each company holds in the one below it.

Subsidiaries (40)

Sister companies (18)

From the Persons with Significant Control register (corporate controllers only).

Same industry, similar size

Similar profitable businesses

Industry benchmarks →

Sources

Companies House profile Filing history & original accounts

Latest figures from FullAccounts for the year to 31 Dec 2025 (profit £19.4m), from the Companies House accounts bulk data published Sep 2026. Spotted an error? Request a correction.

Updated from Companies House on 13 Oct 2026

Contains public sector information from Companies House licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Data from Companies House, © Crown copyright. View the licence.