Specsavers: who owns it, who runs it and what the accounts show
Specsavers Optical Superstores Limited's person with significant control on the Companies House register is Mr Douglas John David Perkins. In the year to February 2026 Specsavers Optical Superstores Limited reported turnover of £4,262m.
- Registered name
- SPECSAVERS OPTICAL SUPERSTORES LIMITED
- Company number
- 01721624
- Status
- Active
- Incorporated
- 9 May 1983
- Registered office area
- Portsmouth
- Industry code on the register
- 41100: Construction of buildings
- Accounts
- Group accounts, covering the companies it owns
- Accounts type
- Full group accounts
- Latest accounts
- Year to February 2026, filed 19 August 2026
What does Specsavers do?
Specsavers is an opticians and hearing care business offering eye tests, glasses, contact lenses and hearing aids through high street stores. It makes money from sales of glasses, lenses and hearing aids, private eye examinations and NHS-funded sight tests and services. Each store is run as a joint venture, with local partners owning a share of their own business alongside the Specsavers group. It was founded in Guernsey in 1984 by Doug and Mary Perkins and remains family-owned.
In brief: opticians and audiology · glasses, lenses and hearing aids · joint venture stores · family-owned, Guernsey
Source: Spark Intel editorial, checked 24 September 2026. Official website: specsavers.co.uk.
Who owns Specsavers?
The Companies House register records Mr Douglas John David Perkins as the person with significant control of Specsavers Optical Superstores Limited, company number 01721624.
The register names an individual, not a company, as its controller.
The full ownership record is on the Companies House register. Control is given in the bands the register uses, not as exact shareholdings.
Who runs Specsavers?
The Companies House register lists 8 current officers for Specsavers Optical Superstores Limited.
All 8 current officers
| Officer | Appointed |
|---|---|
| Douglas John David Perkins | |
| Specsavers Optical Group Limited | 1 June 1998 |
| Mary Lesley Perkins | 1 March 2000 |
| John Douglas Perkins | 16 July 2007 |
| Paul Bryan Fussey | 1 November 2010 |
| Thomas Michael Buller | 21 May 2019 |
| Andrew Goodwin Kidd | 21 June 2023 |
| Peter Dominic John Wright | 21 June 2023 |
Every current officer, with appointment dates, is on the Companies House register.
What did Specsavers file?
Specsavers Optical Superstores Limited reported turnover of £4,262m in the year to February 2026. That was up 7.0% on £3,985m the year before.
It reported 46,616 employees. The year before it reported 46,283.
It filed a pre-tax profit of £430m for the year, against a pre-tax profit of £339m the year before.
Staff costs came to £1,668m. That is an average of £36,000 a head. It ended the year with £233m at the bank and net assets of £358m.
| Measure | Feb 2026 | Feb 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Turnover | £4,262m | £3,985m |
| Pre-tax profit | £430m (filed) | £339m (filed) |
| Employees | 46,616 | 46,283 |
| Staff costs | £1,668m | £1,610m |
| Average staff cost per head | £36,000 | £35,000 |
| Bank and cash | £233m | £208m |
| Net assets | £358m | £285m |
| Interest paid | £7m | |
| Interest received | £16m |
Read the accounts to February 2026 on Companies House, where every set of accounts the company has filed can be downloaded as a PDF.
Are there any charges against Specsavers?
Specsavers Optical Superstores Limited has registered 1 charge at Companies House, of which 1 is still outstanding. A charge is security a lender takes over a company's assets; one is satisfied when the lending behind it is repaid or released.
The outstanding charge
| Charge holder | Created |
|---|---|
| Blacks Leisure Group PLC | 21 May 1986 |
Each charge, with its holder and dates, is on the Companies House register.
How Specsavers compares
Specsavers files as Specsavers Optical Superstores Limited, whose person with significant control is Mr Douglas John David Perkins, with turnover of £4,262m in its latest filed year.
Questions about Specsavers
What does Specsavers do?
Specsavers is an opticians and hearing care business offering eye tests, glasses, contact lenses and hearing aids through high street stores. It makes money from sales of glasses, lenses and hearing aids, private eye examinations and NHS-funded sight tests and services. Each store is run as a joint venture, with local partners owning a share of their own business alongside the Specsavers group. It was founded in Guernsey in 1984 by Doug and Mary Perkins and remains family-owned.
Who owns Specsavers?
The Companies House register records Mr Douglas John David Perkins as the person with significant control of Specsavers Optical Superstores Limited.
How much does Specsavers make?
Specsavers Optical Superstores Limited reported turnover of £4,262m in the year to February 2026. It filed a pre-tax profit of £430m.
How many people work at Specsavers?
Specsavers Optical Superstores Limited reported 46,616 employees in the year to February 2026.
Who runs Specsavers?
The Companies House register lists 8 current officers for Specsavers Optical Superstores Limited. The full list, with appointment dates, is on the Companies House register.
- Figures come from Specsavers Optical Superstores Limited's filings at Companies House, company number 01721624, for the period shown at the top of the page.
- These are group accounts: they include the companies it owns.
- Pre-tax profit is the figure the company filed, for both years.
- A figure the filing does not disclose is shown as n/d. A zero in the filing is treated as not disclosed, never as nil.
- Rounding: below £0.1m in thousands, from £0.1m to £2m to one decimal place, from £2m to the nearest million.
- Ownership is shown in the control bands the register of people with significant control uses, not as exact shareholdings.
- Officers' names and appointment dates come from the Companies House register. Job titles come from the company's own website. The description of what the company does comes from its website, or is marked Spark Intel editorial where it is written from stable, checked facts, with the date either way.
Spark Intel, “Specsavers: who owns it, who runs it and what the accounts show”, updated 28 September 2026. https://www.spark-intel.co.uk/companies/specsavers/. Figures from Companies House filings for SPECSAVERS OPTICAL SUPERSTORES LIMITED (01721624).
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