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Company No. 01177822 · Incorporated 18 Jul 1974

Dorling Kindersley Limited

Registered name: DORLING KINDERSLEY LIMITED

Part of Bertelsmann UK Limited group

Dorling Kindersley Limited made £116m revenue and a £8.7m loss in the year to 31 Dec 2025.

Dorling Kindersley Limited’s revenue fell 6% to £116m in the year to 31 Dec 2025, with a loss of £8.7m and 0 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
52 yrs · since 1974
Type
Private Limited Company

Pass-through vehicle. This looks like a holding, staffing or umbrella company. Its revenue and profit may largely pass through to or from other entities, so the figures may not reflect a standalone operating business. It is excluded from our opportunity lists.

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

Small teamCapital-light
Revenue
£116m
Growth ▼6.3%
Profit
−£8.7m
Growth —
Profit margin
−7.6%
Gross 30.7%
Employees
0
Change —
Profit / employee
—
 
Profitable streak
0yrs
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)£144m£116m£123m£116m
Cost of sales£93m£78.5m£83m£80m
Gross profit£50.7m£37.9m£40.2m£35.5m
Operating profit£18.4m−£4.2m−£1.6m−£6.3m
Profit before tax£16.2m−£5.1m−£22m−£10m
Profit after tax£13m−£5.2m−£22.3m−£8.7m
Profit (best available)£13m−£5.2m−£22.3m−£8.7m
Staff costs£18.8m£21.1m£20.4m£21.3m
Employees (average)043900
Ratios
Profit margin9%−4.5%−18.1%−7.6%
Gross margin35.3%32.6%32.6%30.7%
Revenue per employee—£265k——
Profit per employee—−£11.8k——
Growth (year on year)
Revenue growth—▼19.1%▲5.9%▼6.3%
Profit growth—▼139.8%——
Headcount growth——▼100%—
Balance sheet — indirect signals, not revenue
Cash at bank£62.6k£9.8k£407k£41.1k
Net assets£5.4m£262k−£22m−£758k
Fixed assets£32.7m£30.6m£6.5m£6.6m
Current assets£83.8m£73.9m£77.9m£75.6m
Debtors£3.6m£2.3m£1.4m£4.1m
Deferred income£9.4m£9m£8.5m£10m
SourceFullAccounts · bulk data Jul 2024FullAccounts · bulk data Jul 2024FullAccounts · bulk data Jul 2026FullAccounts · bulk data Jul 2026
Derived from the latest filing

How the business works

Profit margin
−7.6%
Profit ÷ revenue.
Gross margin
30.7%
Gross profit ÷ revenue. High for software and services.
Revenue per employee
—
Revenue ÷ average employees.
Profit per employee
—
Profit ÷ average employees.
Cash conversion
—
Cash generated from operations ÷ operating profit. Needs a cash-flow statement.
Fixed assets ÷ revenue
5.7%
Capital intensity. Low = capital-light, cheaper to start.
Deferred income ÷ revenue
8.7%
Customers paying upfront (subscriptions, deposits). Approximate when combined with accruals.
Debtors ÷ revenue
3.5%
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
—
Now −£758k
Cash at bank
▼90%
Now £41.1k
Headcount
—
Now 0
Deferred income
▲18%
Now £10m
Fixed assets
▲0%
Now £6.6m

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. Dorling Kindersley Limitedthis company

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

Subsidiaries (3)

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 −£8.7m), from the Companies House accounts bulk data published Jul 2026. Spotted an error? Request a correction.

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