Battle · 3 companies
Coffee chains
Full of beans, or feeling the grind?
Costa leads on 4 of the five measures that matter most: turnover, pre-tax profit, profit margin, growth and net assets. Costa is the biggest by turnover at £1,232m, against £588m at Caffè Nero. Costa keeps the most of every £100 it takes, £5.28 as pre-tax profit.
The year ends are up to 9 months apart, so this compares each company's most recent filing rather than the same twelve months. Caffè Nero files group accounts that include subsidiaries; Costa and Starbucks file for a single company, which flatters the group on size.
Accounts compared: Costa to Dec 2024 · Starbucks to Sep 2025 · Caffè Nero to May 2025
The Numbers
| # | Company | Turnover | Change | Pre-tax profit | Margin | Employees | Pay per head | Turnover per head | Net assets | Bank and cash | Accounts to | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CostaCosta Limited | £1,232m | +0.7% | £65m | 5.3% | 17,957 | £22,000 | £69,000 | £264m | £136m | Dec 2024 | Single company |
| 2 | Caffè NeroCaffe Nero Group Holdings Ltd | £588m | +13.0% | -£41m | -7.0% | 9,870 | £19,000 | £60,000 | -£259m | £15m | May 2025 | Group |
| 3 | StarbucksStarbucks Coffee Company (UK) Limited | £556m | +5.8% | -£41m | -7.4% | 5,352 | £24,000 | £104,000 | £68m | £30m | Sep 2025 | Single company |
Ranked by turnover. Click any column to sort. The leader on each measure is highlighted. Movements are against each company's own prior year. Pre-tax profit is filed except where marked (est.).
Category winners
The Takeaway
- Costa converts the most of its turnover. Of every £100, £5.28 reaches pre-tax profit, against a loss of £7.42 at Starbucks.
- Costa is the largest on the top line, £1,232m of turnover, 2.1x Caffè Nero's £588m.
- Caffè Nero is growing fastest, turnover +13.0% on its own prior year.
- Costa is the biggest employer with 17,957 people; Starbucks pays the most per head, an average staff cost of about £24,000.
- Costa has the largest balance sheet, net assets of £264m.
Who keeps the most of every £100 of sales?
Costa keeps the most: £5.28 of every £100 of turnover becomes pre-tax profit. Starbucks does worst, losing £7.42.
Financing bites hardest at Caffè Nero: £13.25 of every £100 goes on interest.
Every profit figure here is the one the company filed.
The chart splits each company's turnover into £100: what goes on people, on interest and on everything else, and what is left as profit.
Out of every £100 of turnover
Each column is £100 of that company's own turnover, so companies of any size compare on one scale; the figures are pounds out of each £100, not millions. Companies run from the best margin to the worst. Payroll is staff costs, financing is interest paid, other running costs are everything else, and profit is pre-tax profit, filed or estimated as marked in the table. A loss is not an extra cost: it is the part of the costs that runs past the £100 line, marked with a red bracket. Hover over any segment for its figure.
Who is the biggest, and does the comparison hold?
By turnover the order is Costa (£1,232m), Caffè Nero (£588m), Starbucks (£556m).
By headcount, Costa leads with 17,957 employees.
The comparison holds with the dates stated plainly: Costa to Dec 2024, Starbucks to Sep 2025, Caffè Nero to May 2025. The bases differ: group accounts include the businesses a company owns, single-company accounts do not.
Turnover on the latest filing
Who is growing fastest?
Caffè Nero grew fastest, turnover +13.0% on its own prior year, ahead of Starbucks (+5.8%), Costa (+0.7%).
Turnover change on each company's own prior year
Who employs the most, who pays the most, and who brings in the most per head?
Costa employs the most, 17,957 people, against 9,870 at Caffè Nero.
Starbucks has the highest average staff cost, about £24,000 a head; Caffè Nero the lowest, about £19,000.
Starbucks brings in the most turnover per employee, about £104,000, against £60,000 at Caffè Nero. It says as much about the business model as the workforce: a marketplace or a wholesaler needs far fewer people per pound than a restaurant or a gym.
Who owns each one?
Ownership as recorded on the Companies House register of people with significant control, in the bands the register uses.
Held by The Coca-Cola Company
A company recorded as a person with significant control in the 75% to 100% band. 3 outstanding charges on the register.
Who owns Costa →
Starbucks Coffee Company (UK) Limited · 02959325Held by Starbucks Coffee Holdings (Uk) Limited
A company recorded as a person with significant control. 24 outstanding charges on the register.
Who owns Starbucks →
Caffe Nero Group Holdings Ltd · 05936386Held by Rome Pik Holdco Ltd
A company recorded as a person with significant control in the 75% to 100% band. 1 outstanding charge on the register.
Who owns Caffè Nero →
What does the full ledger show?
| Measure | Costa | Starbucks | Caffè Nero |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered name | COSTA LIMITED | STARBUCKS COFFEE COMPANY (UK) LIMITED | CAFFE NERO GROUP HOLDINGS LTD |
| Company number | 01270695 | 02959325 | 05936386 |
| Incorporated | 1976 | 1994 | 2006 |
| Accounts filed | 30 December 2025 | 8 April 2026 | 11 February 2026 |
| Turnover, prior year | £1,223m | £526m | £520m |
| Pre-tax profit, prior year | -£10m | -£35m | -£34m |
| Staff costs | £394m | £129m | £191m |
| Payroll share of turnover | 32.0% | 23.3% | 32.6% |
| Employees, prior year | 17,809 | 5,596 | 6,965 |
| Dividends paid | £80m | n/d | n/d |
| Charges outstanding | 3 | 24 | 1 |
A figure the filing does not disclose is shown as n/d; a zero in a filing is treated as not disclosed. Rounding: below £0.1m in thousands, £0.1m to £2m to one decimal place, above that to the nearest million.
Coffee chains: common questions
Who is the biggest of Costa, Starbucks or Caffè Nero?
Costa, with turnover of £1,232m in the year to December 2024.
Which makes the most profit?
Costa: £65m pre-tax in the year to December 2024.
Which employs the most people?
Costa, with 17,957 employees in its latest accounts.
Costa or Starbucks: which is bigger?
Costa, with turnover of £1,232m against £556m at Starbucks on their latest filings. On margin, Costa keeps more of each £100 as pre-tax profit. The full head to head is in the VS Series. Read the VS page →
Costa or Caffè Nero: which is bigger?
Costa, with turnover of £1,232m against £588m at Caffè Nero on their latest filings. On margin, Costa keeps more of each £100 as pre-tax profit. The full head to head is in the VS Series. Read the VS page →
Starbucks or Caffè Nero: which is bigger?
Caffè Nero, with turnover of £588m against £556m at Starbucks on their latest filings. On margin, Caffè Nero keeps more of each £100 as pre-tax profit.
Where do these figures come from?
Each company's latest accounts filed at Companies House. Each links to its full Spark Intel profile, which names the filing it comes from.
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