Jamie and Jools Oliver cut dividend as profits halve at cookery and media empire

Jamie and Jools Oliver have paid themselves a £1.5m dividend – more than 40% down on last year – after profits at their cookery and media empire almost halved.

Sales at Jamie Oliver Holdings remained broadly steady at £28.4m in 2025, £160,000 less than in the previous year, as a strong performance at the group’s own restaurants, franchise business, cookery schools and TV productions offset a decline in royalties, licensing and endorsements.

“We have delivered new Jamie Oliver titles in both book and TV formats during the year and there has been a continued strong performance from back catalogue book titles and our international television content distribution,” accounts filed at Companies House said.

The Eat Yourself Healthy cookbook was a No 1 global bestseller, selling nearly 70,000 copies in its first week, making it one of Jamie’s fastest-selling books.

However, pre-tax profits at the group, which became a certified B Corp in 2019, slumped to £1.25m, from £2.4m a year before, after £1.46m of exceptional costs related to a business restructure in which about 20 jobs were lost from the Olivers’ media team. Profits were also affected by pre-opening costs on a new cookery school in John Lewis’s Oxford Street outlet in London.

Sales at owned and operated restaurants rose 17% to £4.3m and sales via the mainly overseas franchise restaurants, such as Jamie Oliver’s Deli and Jamie Oliver Kitchen, rose 6.5% to £4m. Cookery school income soared 48% to £1.6m. The group opened Jamie Oliver Catherine Street, his return to the UK restaurant scene with a menu focused on British produce, in 2023.

This March, Oliver also opened a new Jamie’s Italian in London’s Leicester Square, backed by the Prezzo owner Brava Hospitality Group, seven years after the chain collapsed. The original chain called in administrators in 2019, leaving £83m of debt and causing 1,000 job losses.

Brava’s backers have suggested there could be scope for up to 40 more of the new restaurants in the UK, and one more is planned this year if the right site can be secured.

A spokesperson for Oliver said 10 new franchise restaurants under his name were planned to open this year around the world, including one just opened in Abu Dhabi after openings in Bahrain and India.

However, royalties, licensing and endorsement income – which is by far the biggest part of the Oliver business and includes a Tefal pan range – slid by close to £2m to £15.9m. It was the second year of sliding income from this angle for Oliver, after a major deal with Tesco in 2023 ended in 2024.

This year, Oliver has launched a social media “micro drama” involving short episodes of a “comedy drama” to promote the Life360 family tracking app.