VS Series
Cineworld v Odeon
Big screens, bigger bills: the cinema chains compared
Odeon leads on turnover, growth and net assets; Cineworld on pre-tax profit and profit margin. Odeon is the biggest by turnover at £221m, against £93m at Cineworld. Both lost money; Cineworld lost the least, £16.78 of every £100 it took.
The year ends are close enough to compare like for like.
Accounts compared: Cineworld to Dec 2025 · Odeon to Dec 2025
Who they are
Cineworld
Cineworld Cinemas Limited · 01915767Cineworld runs cinemas across the UK and Ireland under the Cineworld and Picturehouse names, showing new films in standard and premium formats such as IMAX, 4DX and ScreenX.In brief: cinema chain · tickets, food and drink · Unlimited membership · Cineworld and PicturehouseFull profile →Odeon
Odeon Cinemas Limited · 01854132Odeon runs cinemas across the UK and Ireland, showing new film releases alongside event screenings.In brief: cinema chain · tickets, food and drink · Limitless subscription · owned by AMCFull profile →The Numbers
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.). Cineworld Cinemas Limited runs Cineworld cinemas 'together with Cine-UK Limited and certain Jersey-registered fellow subsidiaries', so its £93.0m of revenue covers only part of Cineworld's UK estate (accounts to 31 December 2025, pp. 4 and 32).
Category winners
The Takeaway
- Cineworld loses the least. Of every £100 it takes, it loses £16.78, against a loss of £23.71 at Odeon.
- Odeon is the largest on the top line, £221m of turnover, 2.4x Cineworld's £93m.
- Odeon is growing fastest, turnover +4.8% on its own prior year. Cineworld went backwards.
- Odeon is the biggest employer with 2,842 people; Cineworld pays the most per head, an average staff cost of about £25,000.
- Odeon has the largest balance sheet, net assets of £27m.
Who keeps the most of every £100 of sales?
Every company here made a loss. Cineworld lost the least, £16.78 of every £100 of turnover. Odeon does worst, losing £23.71.
Financing bites hardest at Cineworld: £14.99 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 Odeon (£221m), Cineworld (£93m).
By headcount, Odeon leads with 2,842 employees.
The accounting periods all end in the same month. All are on the same filing basis.
Turnover on the latest filing
Who is growing fastest?
Odeon grew fastest, turnover +4.8% on its own prior year, ahead of Cineworld (-15.5%).
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?
Odeon employs the most, 2,842 people, against 1,332 at Cineworld.
Cineworld has the highest average staff cost, about £25,000 a head; Odeon the lowest, about £23,000.
Odeon brings in the most turnover per employee, about £78,000, against £70,000 at Cineworld. 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 Cineworld Cinemas Holdings Limited
A company recorded as a person with significant control. 4 outstanding charges on the register.
Who owns Cineworld →
Odeon Cinemas Limited · 01854132Held by Odeon Cinemas Holdings Limited
A company recorded as a person with significant control. 2 outstanding charges on the register.
Who owns Odeon →
What does the full ledger show?
| Measure | Cineworld | Odeon |
|---|---|---|
| Registered name | CINEWORLD CINEMAS LIMITED | ODEON CINEMAS LIMITED |
| Company number | 01915767 | 01854132 |
| Incorporated | 1985 | 1984 |
| Accounts filed | 2 October 2026 | 21 September 2026 |
| Turnover, prior year | £110m | £211m |
| Pre-tax profit, prior year | £23m | -£48m |
| Staff costs | £33m | £65m |
| Payroll share of turnover | 35.6% | 29.4% |
| Employees, prior year | 1,584 | 2,783 |
| Dividends paid | n/d | n/d |
| Charges outstanding | 4 | 2 |
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.
Cineworld v Odeon: common questions
Who is the biggest of Cineworld or Odeon?
Odeon, with turnover of £221m in the year to December 2025.
Which makes the most profit?
Cineworld: the smallest loss, -£16m pre-tax in the year to December 2025.
Which employs the most people?
Odeon, with 2,842 employees in its latest accounts.
Cineworld or Odeon: which is bigger?
Odeon, with turnover of £221m against £93m at Cineworld on their latest filings. On margin, Cineworld 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.