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Company No. 02621654 · Incorporated 18 Jun 1991

Virgin Books Limited

Registered name: VIRGIN BOOKS LIMITED

Part of Bertelsmann UK Limited group

Virgin Books Limited made £4.1m revenue and £503k profit in the year to 31 Dec 2025.

Virgin Books Limited’s revenue fell 34% to £4.1m in the year to 31 Dec 2025, with £503k profit and 7 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
35 yrs · since 1991
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

Small teamCapital-light
Revenue
£4.1m
Growth ▼34.4%
Profit
£503k
Growth ▼64.2%
Profit margin
12.3%
Gross 66.3%
Employees
7
Change —
Profit / employee
£71.8k
Revenue/employee £585k
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)£5m£5.3m£6.2m£4.1m
Cost of sales£1.5m£2m£2.1m£1.4m
Gross profit£3.5m£3.3m£4.1m£2.7m
Operating profit£1.3m£1m£1.8m£598k
Profit before tax£1.4m£1.1m£1.9m£673k
Profit after tax£1.2m£828k£1.4m£503k
Profit (best available)£1.2m£828k£1.4m£503k
Staff costs£446k£459k£441k£476k
Employees (average)7707
Ratios
Profit margin24.5%15.5%22.5%12.3%
Gross margin69.5%62%65.7%66.3%
Revenue per employee£712k£764k—£585k
Profit per employee£174k£118k—£71.8k
Growth (year on year)
Revenue growth—▲7.3%▲16.7%▼34.4%
Profit growth—▼32.1%▲69.4%▼64.2%
Headcount growth—0%▼100%—
Balance sheet — indirect signals, not revenue
Net assets£8.5m£9.3m£10.7m£11.2m
Fixed assets£2£2£2£2
Current assets£10.4m£11.7m£12.7m£13m
Debtors£47.4k£58.9k£2k£2k
Deferred income£330k£422k£235k£139k
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
12.3%
Profit ÷ revenue.
Gross margin
66.3%
Gross profit ÷ revenue. High for software and services.
Revenue per employee
£585k
Revenue ÷ average employees.
Profit per employee
£71.8k
Profit ÷ average employees.
Cash conversion
—
Cash generated from operations ÷ operating profit. Needs a cash-flow statement.
Fixed assets ÷ revenue
0%
Capital intensity. Low = capital-light, cheaper to start.
Deferred income ÷ revenue
3.4%
Customers paying upfront (subscriptions, deposits). Approximate when combined with accruals.
Debtors ÷ revenue
0.1%
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
▲5%
Now £11.2m
Cash at bank
—
Now —
Headcount
—
Now 7
Deferred income
▼41%
Now £139k
Fixed assets
0%
Now £2

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 Limited75–100%
  4. Virgin Books Limitedthis company

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

Subsidiaries (1)

Sister companies (39)

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 £503k), 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.