VS Series

JLR v Aston Martin

Britain's biggest car company by turnover, and one of its best-known sports car makers. How do their accounts compare?

JLR leads on turnover, pre-tax profit, profit margin and net assets; Aston Martin on growth. JLR is the biggest by turnover at £22,911m, against £1,258m at Aston Martin. Both lost money; JLR lost the least, £1.34 of every £100 it took.

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

Accounts compared: JLR to Mar 2026 · Aston Martin to Dec 2025

The Numbers

MeasureJLRJaguar Land Rover Automotive PLCAston MartinAston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC
Turnover£22,911m£1,258m
Turnover changen/d-20.6%
Pre-tax profit-£308m-£364m
Profit margin-1.3%-28.9%
Employees42,8502,906
Pay per head£77,000£91,000
Turnover per head£535,000£433,000
Net assets£8,064m£316m
Bank and cash£2,750m£250m
Accounts toMar 2026Dec 2025
BasisGroupGroup

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

The Takeaway

  1. JLR loses the least. Of every £100 it takes, it loses £1.34, against a loss of £28.93 at Aston Martin.
  2. JLR is the largest on the top line, £22,911m of turnover, 18.2x Aston Martin's £1,258m.
  3. Turnover fell at both companies. Aston Martin fell least, -20.6% on its own prior year.
  4. JLR is the biggest employer with 42,850 people; Aston Martin pays the most per head, an average staff cost of about £91,000.
  5. JLR has the largest balance sheet, net assets of £8,064m.

Who keeps the most of every £100 of sales?

Every company here made a loss. JLR lost the least, £1.34 of every £100 of turnover. Aston Martin does worst, losing £28.93.

Financing bites hardest at Aston Martin: £13.56 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

£100£0 Payroll: £14.46 of every £100Payroll£14.46Financing: £0.78 of every £100Other costs: £86.10 of every £100Other costs£86.10Loss (the costs beyond £100): £1.34 of every £100Loss £1.34JLRYear to Mar 2026£22,911m turnoverPayroll: £21.09 of every £100Payroll£21.09Financing: £13.56 of every £100£13.56Other costs: £94.28 of every £100Other costs£94.28Loss (the costs beyond £100): £28.93 of every £100Loss £28.93Aston MartinYear to Dec 2025£1,258m 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 JLR (£22,911m), Aston Martin (£1,258m).

By headcount, JLR leads with 42,850 employees.

The accounting periods all end within 3 months of each other. All are on the same filing basis.

JLR£22,911mAston Martin£1,258m

Turnover on the latest filing

Whose turnover fell least?

Turnover fell at both companies. Aston Martin fell least, -20.6% on its own prior year.

Who employs the most, who pays the most, and who brings in the most per head?

JLR employs the most, 42,850 people, against 2,906 at Aston Martin.

Aston Martin has the highest average staff cost, about £91,000 a head; JLR the lowest, about £77,000.

JLR brings in the most turnover per employee, about £535,000, against £433,000 at Aston Martin. 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.

What does the full ledger show?

MeasureJLRAston Martin
Registered nameJAGUAR LAND ROVER AUTOMOTIVE PLCASTON MARTIN LAGONDA GLOBAL HOLDINGS PLC
Company number0647769111488166
Incorporated20082018
Accounts filed7 September 202620 May 2026
Turnover, prior yearn/d£1,584m
Pre-tax profit, prior year£1,057m-£289m
Staff costs£3,314m£265m
Payroll share of turnover14.5%21.1%
Employees, prior yearn/d2,920
Dividends paid£448mn/d
Charges outstanding00

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.

JLR v Aston Martin: common questions

Who is the biggest of JLR or Aston Martin?

JLR, with turnover of £22,911m in the year to March 2026.

Which makes the most profit?

JLR: the smallest loss, -£308m pre-tax in the year to March 2026.

Which employs the most people?

JLR, with 42,850 employees in its latest accounts.

JLR or Aston Martin: which is bigger?

JLR, with turnover of £22,911m against £1,258m at Aston Martin on their latest filings. On margin, JLR 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.