Octopus Publishing Group Limited
Registered name: OCTOPUS PUBLISHING GROUP LIMITED
Part of Hachette Livre Sa groupOctopus Publishing Group Limited made £37.8m revenue and a £146k loss in the year to 31 Dec 2025.
Octopus Publishing Group Limited’s revenue grew 4% to £37.8m in the year to 31 Dec 2025, with a loss of £146k. The company is classified under “book publishing” and is based in London; we hold 3 years of its filed accounts.
- Status
- Active
- Location
- London
- Age
- 28 yrs · since 1998
- Type
- Private Limited Company
Key figures
Financial history
| Year to | 31 Dec 2023 | 31 Dec 2024 | 31 Dec 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disclosure | Full P&L | Full P&L | Full P&L |
| Profit & loss | |||
| Revenue (turnover) | £31.6m | £36.4m | £37.8m |
| Cost of sales | −£16.5m | −£17.8m | −£18.5m |
| Gross profit | £15m | £18.6m | £19.3m |
| Operating profit | −£4.4m | −£6.5m | −£32.3k |
| Profit before tax | £564k | −£489k | £18.2k |
| Profit after tax | £500k | −£539k | −£146k |
| Profit (best available) | £500k | −£539k | −£146k |
| Employees (average) | — | — | — |
| Ratios | |||
| Profit margin | 1.6% | −1.5% | −0.4% |
| Gross margin | 47.6% | 51% | 51.1% |
| Growth (year on year) | |||
| Revenue growth | — | ▲15.4% | ▲3.8% |
| Profit growth | — | ▼207.7% | — |
| Balance sheet — indirect signals, not revenue | |||
| Net assets | — | — | — |
| Source | Accounts · bulk data Aug 2025 | Accounts · bulk data Aug 2025 | Accounts · bulk data Oct 2026 |
How the business works
- Profit margin
- −0.4%
- Profit ÷ revenue.
- Gross margin
- 51.1%
- 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
- —
- Capital intensity. Low = capital-light, cheaper to start.
- Deferred income ÷ revenue
- —
- Customers paying upfront (subscriptions, deposits). Approximate when combined with accruals.
- Debtors ÷ revenue
- —
- Money owed by customers. Low = customers pay quickly.
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 —
- Cash at bank
- —
- Now —
- Headcount
- —
- Now —
- Deferred income
- —
- Now —
- Fixed assets
- —
- Now —
Group structure
Ownership chain
- Hachette Livre Sa (registered outside the UK register)ultimate parent75–100%
- Hachette UK (Holdings) Limited75–100%
- Octopus Publishing Group Limitedthis company
Bands show the share of ownership each company holds in the one below it.
Subsidiaries (1)
- Summersdale Publishers LimitedFigures not disclosed
Sister companies (17)
- Andre Deutsch LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Carlton Books LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Hachette Boardgames UK LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Hachette Partworks LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Hachette UK LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Headline Publishing Group LimitedFigures not disclosed
- John Catt Educational LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Kogan Page LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Laurence King Publishing LtdFigures not disclosed
- Little, Brown Book Group LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Quercus Editions LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Summersdale Publishers LimitedFigures not disclosed
- The Orion Publishing Group LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Welbeck Children's LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Welbeck Fiction LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Welbeck Non-Fiction LimitedFigures not disclosed
- Welbeck Publishing Group LimitedFigures not disclosed
From the Persons with Significant Control register (corporate controllers only).
Sources
Latest figures from accounts for the year to 31 Dec 2025 (profit −£146k), from the Companies House accounts bulk data published Oct 2026. Spotted an error? Request a correction.
Updated from Companies House on 20 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.