UK DTC Brands Ranked by Profit: What 20 Sets of Filed Accounts Reveal

The results aren't pretty. Of the 20 brands we analysed, the 16 we could compare like-for-like sold £2.45 billion between them and made a combined operating loss of £5.5 million. Half of those 16 lost money, and the median brand kept just 0.95% of its sales as operating profit. Ten of the 16, including Gymshark, Huel and Adanola, run their online store on Shopify.

This post covers the full league table, the founders behind each brand, what changed year on year, and the public reasons behind the numbers: tariffs, headcount, stores, factories and buyouts. Then it covers what any DTC founder should take from it.

How we ranked the UK DTC brands

Every UK company files its accounts at Companies House, and they're public. Most coverage only quotes the headline revenue. We went down the profit and loss statement for each brand and used:

• The latest filed year for each brand. Year ends vary from March 2025 to March 2026, and Bulk's latest filing is for 2024.
• Group (consolidated) accounts wherever they exist, so intercompany sales don't inflate revenue.
• Operating margin as the ranking metric: operating profit ÷ revenue.

What is operating margin?

Operating margin is the percentage of revenue a business keeps after its cost of sales, distribution costs and administrative expenses, the cost lines most UK companies file. It's calculated before interest and tax. A 10% operating margin means £10 of every £100 in sales is left over as operating profit.

We ranked on it rather than adjusted EBITDA because every company defines "adjusted" EBITDA its own way, while operating profit is a statutory, audited number. (More on why that matters below.)

Four brands are listed but not ranked, because their accounts aren't comparable: Oh Polly, Castore, Represent and Sweaty Betty. We explain why at the end.

The UK DTC Profit League: the full table

Source: Companies House filed accounts, latest year filed per brand. Operating margin = statutory operating profit ÷ revenue.

What is a good operating margin for a DTC brand?

Based on these 16 UK DTC brands, a good operating margin is anything above 5%, and above 10% is elite. Only two brands cleared 10%. The median was under 1%.

Gross margin doesn't predict where a brand lands. Missoma has a 65% gross margin and loses money. Never Fully Dressed has 50% and ranks #2. The difference is everything that happens after gross profit. If you want to model that for your own brand, start with contribution margin, which is gross profit minus the variable costs of each order, and then look at our breakdown of ecommerce profit margins.

Where every £1 of sales goes

Put the brands side by side and the profit leaks are obvious. Gymshark's cost of sales is 38% of revenue, close to Adanola's 33%. The difference is the next line down: Gymshark's distribution costs are 20% of revenue, against Adanola's 11%. That gap alone is bigger than Gymshark's entire 2.0% operating margin.

Gymshark: the biggest UK DTC brand ranks #8

Gymshark revenue rose from £607.3m to £647.3m (+7%), another year of growth for the brand Ben Francis and Lewis Morgan started in 2012. Gymshark's profit went the other way: operating profit fell from £17.8m to £12.7m (−28%), and profit before tax fell 42% to £6.9m.

So how much profit does Gymshark make? On these accounts, £12.7m of operating profit on £647m of sales, or £1.97 of every £100.

The filing explains where it went:

• Headcount: average employees rose from 881 to 1,029 (+17%) while sales grew 7%. A restructure followed in April 2025, costing £5.2m in restructuring, relocation and retention.
• Stores: four new permanent stores opened (White City, Trafford Centre, Amsterdam, Dubai). Depreciation and impairments rose from £24.0m to £33.2m (+38%).
• The market: the board describes a tough first half, with cost-of-living pressure and then US tariffs. North America is Gymshark's biggest market at 46% of sales. Mid-year, it stopped competing on price, and the second half improved.

Gymshark doesn't have a revenue problem. It has a "what's left after the bills" problem. (Drapers has more on Gymshark's plans, including its first gym, in Miami.)

The growth trap: when sales go up and profit goes down

Some of the fastest-growing UK DTC brands got less profitable.

Wild: +44% sales, swung to a loss

Freddy Ward and Charlie Bowes-Lyon's refillable deodorant brand was bought by Unilever in April 2025. Revenue jumped from £66.1m to £95.0m (+44%), and rest-of-world sales more than tripled to £24.8m. Operating profit went from £0.9m to a £7.8m loss. Admin costs rose 62%, and staff costs nearly doubled (+82%) as headcount went from 89 to 111. The filing blames Unilever deal and integration costs and US tariffs, and warns that a crowded category is pushing up customer acquisition costs.

Butternut Box: +28% sales, £18m loss

Kevin Glynn and David Nolan's fresh dog food brand grew revenue from £173.7m to £222.8m (+28%), with mainland Europe up 75%. The operating loss went from £0.3m to £18.3m. Most of the swing is a new factory in Poland (pre-production costs), refinancing, and 118 more staff. Cash fell from £66m to £29m. The company says the UK and Ireland are highly profitable, and this is deliberate investment.

Bulk: flat profit from whey, freight and a broken website

Adam Rossiter and Elliot Dawes' sports nutrition brand grew sales 5% to £128.8m. Gross margin fell from 43% to 38% because of whey price spikes, Red Sea freight disruption and heavy discounting by competitors. A website rebuild disrupted its marketing channels for months. Operating profit went from £6.6m to roughly zero. (Bulk's latest filing is for 2024.)

Beauty Pie: cut marketing by £5m, revenue didn't move

Marcia Kilgore's Beauty Pie is the only brand of the 20 that discloses its marketing spend. It cut marketing from £23.2m to £18.2m (−22%), and revenue went from £73.2m to £72.7m (−0.6%). Gross margin rose from 46% to 52%, and the operating loss narrowed from £24.4m to £15.3m. That's still a loss, but a much smaller one. If a fifth of your marketing budget can go with almost no revenue impact, it wasn't working. Blended ROAS won't tell you that. Measuring MER against new-customer contribution will.

EBITDA vs operating profit: why "profitable" brands still lose money

EBITDA is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. Operating profit subtracts depreciation and amortisation. Interest comes after both. Brands love leading with adjusted EBITDA. Here's what it leaves out:

• Gousto (Timo Boldt, James Carter): revenue +10% to £342.9m and adjusted EBITDA up from £42.1m to £45.0m, yet an operating loss of £3.3m, because depreciation and amortisation was £44.8m. Headcount fell from 1,238 to 1,175, and in June 2026 Gousto proposed closing its Spalding site, with about 290 jobs at risk. Its first year in Ireland lost £1.8m.
• Bloom & Wild (Aron Gelbard, Ed Riley): revenue back to growth (+6% to £116.6m, Germany +49%) and adjusted EBITDA up to £5.7m, but the operating loss widened from £3.9m to £5.4m as depreciation rose to £8.1m.
• Monica Vinader (sisters Monica and Gaby Vinader): revenue +8% to £116.8m and operating profit doubled to £2.9m, but £10.6m of interest, including 12% loan notes from the Bridgepoint buyout, turned it into a £7.5m pre-tax loss. Gross margin slipped on commodity costs (gold and silver are at record highs). A new CEO, Sebastian Picardo, joined in October 2025.

The brands we see managing this well track profit after every cost, every week, not an adjusted number once a year.

Stores, tariffs and the $800 rule

Missoma: four stores in a year

Marisa Hordern's demi-fine jewellery brand opened four stores in one year: Covent Garden, Leeds, Carnaby and a Marylebone flagship. Revenue was flat (−1% to £26.1m), and the operating loss went from £0.3m to £0.7m. Cash fell from £6.6m to £3.9m. It held a 65% gross margin despite record gold and silver prices, but rest-of-world sales fell 12%.

Lucy & Yak: the US rule change

Lucy Greenwood and Chris Renwick's dungarees brand grew US sales from £1.2m to £5.7m. Then, on 29 August 2025, the US removed the $800 "de minimis" exemption, which had let low-value parcels in duty-free. The filing calls it a significant risk to its fastest-growing market. Operating profit fell 43% to £1.2m (margin 6.4% → 3.4%). In March 2026 the founders sold the company to an employee ownership trust for about £9m.

The top 5 most profitable UK DTC brands

#5 Lounge: 79% of sales outside the UK

Dan and Melanie Marsden's underwear brand grew revenue +10% to £83.7m, and operating profit grew faster (+21% to £4.8m, margin 5.7%). Gross margin slipped from 69% to 67% on material prices, shipping costs and currency moves, and headcount rose 20%. The company now has 1.04m active customers.

#4 Simba: £1.24m of revenue per employee

James Cox and Steven Reid's mattress brand did £90.5m (+9%) with 73 people. Operating profit more than doubled to £5.9m (margin 3.2% → 6.5%). The growth came from a Bensons for Beds partnership, which took retail revenue from £4.6m to £11.5m while online sales were flat. Sleep Country Canada bought Simba in May 2025. Note that the "record profit" of £12.6m includes a £6.4m tax credit.

#3 Huel: what margin is worth

Julian Hearn and James Collier's Huel grew revenue +19% to £253.8m and operating profit +43% to £19.6m (margin 6.4% → 7.7%), helped by national retail and Amazon. It's the only brand in the league that grew fast and became more profitable at scale. Danone completed its acquisition of Huel in September 2026, at about £864m according to the UK competition regulator. (Danone's completion announcement · CMA clearance coverage)

#2 Never Fully Dressed: 46 people, £28m

Lucy Aylen's womenswear brand, home of the Jaspre skirt, grew revenue +30% to £28.0m and more than doubled operating profit to £3.7m (margin 7.3% → 13.1%). It did that with 46 employees and no external debt. Rest-of-world sales grew 46%. Refined Capital Partners took a stake in July 2026.

#1 Adanola: the most profitable DTC brand in the UK

Adanola, founded by Hyrum Cook in Manchester, crossed £100m: revenue +21% to £102.6m, a 67% gross margin, and a 15.3% operating margin. That's £15.29 of every £100, nearly 8× Gymshark.

It's #1 even though profit fell 28%, from £21.8m to £15.7m (margin 25.8% → 15.3%). Three reasons:

1. US build-out. Headcount went from 95 to 125, staff costs rose 76%, and a US subsidiary started trading in December 2025.
2. Slowing orders. Order growth fell from 38% to 8%.
3. The £50m trademark. In October 2024 Hyrum Cook transferred the brand's IP to the company for £50m, described in the accounts as "not conducted under normal market conditions". It's now amortised at about £5m a year. In August 2025, STORY3 Capital invested at a reported ~$530m valuation.

So who owns Adanola? According to the filing, founder Hyrum Cook is the ultimate controlling party, with STORY3 as a minority investor.

Size doesn't buy margin

Plot revenue against margin and there's no pattern. The two most profitable brands are among the smallest. The three biggest (Gymshark, Gousto, Huel) keep £1.97, −£0.97 and £7.70 of every £100.

The 4 brands we couldn't rank

• Oh Polly (Claire Henderson, Michael Branney): shows a 14% margin, but £35.2m of its income is management fees from its US sister company, which sits outside the UK group. Without that, it would make an operating loss of about £24m.
• Castore (Tom and Phil Beahon): filed an 18-month period, and revenue includes club kit deals.
• Represent (George and Michael Heaton): a 15.5-month first period for a new holding company after a buyout.
• Sweaty Betty (Tamara and Simon Hill-Norton, now owned by Wolverine): the UK accounts include stores for Wolverine's other brands.

What DTC founders should take from this

1. Revenue is vanity. The biggest brand here keeps £1.97 of every £100. Know your operating margin and contribution margin every week.
2. Look below gross profit. Adanola's gross margin slipped 0.9 points, but administrative expenses rose from 31.6% to 41.0% of revenue and operating margin fell 10.5 points. At Wild, administrative expenses rose from 49.8% to 56.2% of revenue.
3. EBITDA hides costs. Gousto made £45m EBITDA and an operating loss.
4. Test your marketing. Beauty Pie cut £5m and revenue didn't move. Use your break-even ROAS to find the spend that isn't paying back.

Key takeaways

• We analysed 20 UK DTC brands. The 16 with comparable accounts sold £2.45bn between them and made a combined £5.5m operating loss; half of them lost money.
• Adanola (15.3%) and Never Fully Dressed (13.1%) keep the most of every £100. Gymshark, the biggest brand at £647m, ranks #8 with 2.0%.
• Gross margin doesn't predict profit. The lines below it do: Gymshark's distribution costs are 20% of revenue against Adanola's 11%, and Adanola's administrative expenses rose from 31.6% to 41.0%.
• Fast growth often costs margin: Wild grew 44% and swung to an 8% loss; Butternut Box grew 28% and lost £18.3m.
• Adjusted EBITDA hides real costs. Gousto made £45m EBITDA and an operating loss.
• Beauty Pie cut marketing by £5m (−22%) and revenue barely moved (−0.6%).

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Companies House: company search and filed accounts
• Danone: completion of the Huel acquisition (GlobeNewswire)
• FoodBev: Danone's £864m Huel acquisition cleared by the CMA
• Drapers: Gymshark to open its first gym in Miami