VS Series

Bentley v Rolls-Royce

Crewe against Goodwood: two British luxury marques with German owners. How do their accounts compare?

Bentley leads on turnover, growth and net assets; Rolls-Royce Motor Cars on pre-tax profit and profit margin. Bentley is the biggest by turnover at £2,123m, against £914m at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars keeps more of every £100 it takes, £12.47 as pre-tax profit.

The year ends are close enough to compare like for like.

Spark Intel Research Desk·Last updated ·Source: Companies House filed accounts

Accounts compared: Bentley to Dec 2025 · Rolls-Royce Motor Cars to Dec 2025

Biggest by turnover

Bentley

£2,123m

Highest profit margin

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

12.5%

Fastest-growing turnover

Bentley

-3.5%

Who they are

Bentley

Bentley Motors Limited · 00992897Bentley Motors designs, engineers and builds Bentley luxury cars, including the Continental GT, Flying Spur and Bentayga, at its factory and headquarters in Crewe, Cheshire.In brief: luxury car maker · designs and builds in Crewe · sells to retailers worldwide · owned by Volkswagen AGFull profile →

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited · 03522604Rolls-Royce Motor Cars hand-builds Rolls-Royce cars, including the Phantom, Ghost, Cullinan and Spectre, at the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, West Sussex, and owns the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars trademarks.In brief: luxury car maker · hand-built at Goodwood · sells through a BMW Group sales company · not Rolls-Royce plcFull profile →

The Numbers

MeasureBentleyBentley Motors LimitedRolls-Royce Motor CarsRolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited
Turnover£2,123m£914m
Turnover change-3.5%-6.6%
Pre-tax profit£85m£114m
Profit margin4.0%12.5%
Employees4,1191,980
Pay per head£77,000£72,000
Turnover per head£515,000£462,000
Net assets£692m£202m
Bank and cash£336m£0.7m
Accounts toDec 2025Dec 2025
BasisSingle companySingle company

The leader on each measure is marked. Movements are against each company's own prior year. Pre-tax profit is filed except where marked (est.).

Category winners

Biggest by turnover

Bentley

£2,123m

Most pre-tax profit

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

£114m

Highest profit margin

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

12.5%

Fastest-growing turnover

Bentley

-3.5%

Biggest employer

Bentley

4,119 staff

Highest pay per head

Bentley

£77,000

Most turnover per head

Bentley

£515,000

Largest net assets

Bentley

£692m

Most cash

Bentley

£336m

The Takeaway

  1. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars converts the most of its turnover. Of every £100, £12.47 reaches pre-tax profit, against £3.98 at Bentley.
  2. Bentley is the largest on the top line, £2,123m of turnover, 2.3x Rolls-Royce Motor Cars's £914m.
  3. Turnover fell at both companies. Bentley fell least, -3.5% on its own prior year.
  4. Bentley is the biggest employer with 4,119 people; Bentley pays the most per head, an average staff cost of about £77,000.
  5. Bentley has the largest balance sheet, net assets of £692m.

Who keeps the most of every £100 of sales?

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars keeps the most: £12.47 of every £100 of turnover becomes pre-tax profit. Bentley keeps the least, £3.98.

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

£100£0 Payroll: £15.63 of every £100Payroll£15.63Financing: £0.10 of every £100Other costs: £71.80 of every £100Other costs£71.80Profit: £12.47 of every £100Profit £12.47Rolls-Royce Motor CarsYear to Dec 2025£914m turnoverPayroll: £15.00 of every £100Payroll£15.00Financing: £0.05 of every £100Other costs: £80.97 of every £100Other costs£80.97Profit: £3.98 of every £100Profit £3.98BentleyYear to Dec 2025£2,123m turnover
Payroll (staff costs)Financing (interest paid)Other running costsPre-tax profitLoss: the costs beyond £100

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 Bentley (£2,123m), Rolls-Royce Motor Cars (£914m).

By headcount, Bentley leads with 4,119 employees.

The accounting periods all end in the same month. All are on the same filing basis.

Bentley£2,123mRolls-Royce Motor Cars£914m

Turnover on the latest filing

Whose turnover fell least?

Turnover fell at both companies. Bentley fell least, -3.5% on its own prior year, against Rolls-Royce Motor Cars (-6.6%).

Bentley-3.5%Rolls-Royce Motor Cars-6.6%

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?

Bentley employs the most, 4,119 people, against 1,980 at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

Bentley has the highest average staff cost, about £77,000 a head; Rolls-Royce Motor Cars the lowest, about £72,000.

Bentley brings in the most turnover per employee, about £515,000, against £462,000 at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. 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.

Bentley

4,119

employees, about £77,000 pay a head, £515,000 turnover a head, -2.2% on the year

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars

1,980

employees, about £72,000 pay a head, £462,000 turnover a head, +2.4% on the year

Who owns each one?

Ownership as recorded on the Companies House register of people with significant control, in the bands the register uses.

Bentley Motors Limited · 00992897

Held by Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft

A company recorded as a person with significant control. 1 outstanding charge on the register.

Who owns Bentley →

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited · 03522604

Held by Bmw (Uk) Holdings Limited

A company recorded as a person with significant control.

Who owns Rolls-Royce Motor Cars →

What does the full ledger show?

MeasureBentleyRolls-Royce Motor Cars
Registered nameBENTLEY MOTORS LIMITEDROLLS-ROYCE MOTOR CARS LIMITED
Company number0099289703522604
Incorporated19701998
Accounts filed28 September 202617 July 2026
Turnover, prior year£2,200m£979m
Pre-tax profit, prior year£187m£135m
Staff costs£319m£143m
Payroll share of turnover15.0%15.6%
Employees, prior year4,2131,934
Dividends paidn/d£93m
Charges outstanding10

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.

Bentley v Rolls-Royce: common questions

Who is the biggest of Bentley or Rolls-Royce Motor Cars?

Bentley, with turnover of £2,123m in the year to December 2025.

Which makes the most profit?

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars: £114m pre-tax in the year to December 2025.

Which employs the most people?

Bentley, with 4,119 employees in its latest accounts.

Bentley or Rolls-Royce Motor Cars: which is bigger?

Bentley, with turnover of £2,123m against £914m at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars on their latest filings. On margin, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars keeps more of each £100 as pre-tax profit. The full head to head is in the VS Series. Read the VS page →

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.

Related

Bentley v Rolls-Royce: revenue, profit and who owns them

VS Series MOTORING

British car makers

Built in Britain. Who turns cars into profit?

JLR · Nissan UK · Toyota UK · MINI Plant Oxford · Bentley · Rolls-Royce Motor Cars · Aston Martin · McLaren Automotive

8 companies compared →

All battles

Every arena, by sector

All company profiles

Every profile, by sector