XL Recordings has reported turnover of £70.76 million for 2025, up 12.6% on the £62.86m posted the previous year, according to newly filed accounts at Companies House.
The label is part of the Beggars Group stable alongside 4AD, Rough Trade Records, Matador and Young Recordings.
The revenue increase came despite XL releasing just six new albums during the year, down from nine in 2024. Releases included Jim Legxacy's Black British Music, which peaked at No.29 and has sales to date of 27,337, according to the Official Charts Company, and Radiohead's Hail To The Thief – Live Recordings (14,121 sales).
"We intentionally release a very small number of albums a year in a world that is flooded with music, and devote the entire attention of our 250 staff worldwide to them," the label said in its strategic report.
The company's most consumed titles in the UK last year included catalogue fom Radiohead, Adele, The Prodigy and Nines, while Fontaines DC's 2024 LP Romance was the biggest overall for the label in 2025. The band release new album Dopamine Chamber on October 16.
Operating profit fell 28.4% year-on-year to £9.16m, down from £12.79m in 2024, with the company citing rising cost of sales and administrative expenses. Post-tax profit came to £7.82m, down from £10.99m 12 months earlier.
Overseas markets continued to drive the bulk of XL's business, with 82% of turnover attributable to territories outside the UK, consistent with the prior year. Staff costs increased from £2.92m to £3.25m, with average headcount increasing to 29 from 28.
XL paid out dividends of £17.6m during the year, up from £10m in 2024.
We continue to work with the UK government to protect and uphold the value of the UK's great heritage of cultural IP rights
XL Recordings
The label's strategic report reiterated its commitment to independent routes to market, "rather than the so-called indie operations of the major companies, believing in the importance of the alternative and the specialist".
"We remain committed to treating artists fairly and have developed several industry-leading policies to reflect that which have become a key component in what the company represents," it added.
The label also pointed to continuing economic headwinds. "Inflation continues to weigh on supply chain cost and overheads, and inevitably, label margins," stated the report.
Amid mounting industry pressure around AI and copyright, XL said it "continue[s] to work with the UK government to protect and uphold the value of the UK's great heritage of cultural IP rights" in light of "international technological challenges" facing rights holders.
XL Recordings is a majority-owned subsidiary of Beggars Group, which increased its stake in the label from 50% to 51% in October 2024.
Beggars Group's own shares were transferred into the MM Settlement Trust – a trust connected to founder and chairman Martin Mills – the same month, in a move the company said was designed to "preserve the company's independence and help to ensure continuity over future generations".
PHOTO: Igoris Tarran
