Bright Sparks · Deep dives

Inside the accounts of…

What story does the money tell?

One company per sector, read line by line from its full accounts: where the money comes from, where it goes, and what the notes say that the headline figures don't. Every figure carries its page number.

9deep dives
5sectors
574pages of accounts read

The deep dives

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a train operator

Avanti West Coast

Avanti West Coast paid the Government a net £141m in 2024/25, almost 15 times its own £9.5m profit

Where £100 of turnover went

Staff £23Other costs £76Profit £1
Accounts to March 2025Read →
a bookmaker

bet365

bet365 kept £4bn from punters, then paid out Stoke City as a dividend

Where £100 of gross win went

Staff £17Other costs £74Profit £8
Accounts to March 2025Read →
a music festival

Glastonbury

Glastonbury paid more to related parties, £4.7m, than to its own 105 staff, £4.1m

Where £100 of turnover went

Staff £5Other costs £84Profit £10
Accounts to March 2025Read →
an AI research lab

Google DeepMind

Google DeepMind's UK company doesn't employ its workforce: other Alphabet companies charged it £1.0bn for staff and paid it £1.3bn for research

Where £100 of turnover went

Staff £76Other costs £6Profit £17
Accounts to December 2024Read →
a bakery chain

Greggs

Greggs spends more on its people than its food: £756m against £671m

Where £100 of sales went

Staff £35Other costs £57Profit £8
Accounts to December 2025Read →
an F1 team

McLaren

McLaren's title year: share-based pay of £57m came to more than the profit

Where £100 of turnover went

Staff £34Other costs £59Profit £7
Accounts to December 2024Read →
a golf championship

The R&A

The company that stages The Open has no employees: a sister company charged it £31.9m for administration

Where £100 of turnover went

Staff £0Other costs £99Profit £1
Accounts to December 2025Read →
a Premier League club

Tottenham Hotspur

£23.4m of Tottenham's £72.7m finance bill was its owner's warrant rising in value

Where £100 of revenue and other income went

Staff £45Other costs £76Loss £21
Accounts to June 2025Read →
a Grand Slam tournament

Wimbledon

£42.1m of Wimbledon's £44.8m profit was debenture money paid in advance

Where £100 of turnover went

Staff £8Other costs £82Profit £10
Accounts to July 2025Read →

Profit left from every £100, ranked

Every deep dive on one scale, on the measure chosen above.

How to read a deep dive

  • 1The answerThe finding in 60 words, before anything else.
  • 2Where £100 goesThe whole business on one chart, then the money in and the money out.
  • 3What this meansWhat each figure says about how the business actually runs, and what the accounts don't tell us.