THE ROYAL CENTRAL SCHOOL OF SPEECH AND DRAMA

1. THE ROYAL CENTRAL SCHOOL OF SPEECH AND DRAMA 2012-12-06 → present
2. CENTRAL SCHOOL OF SPEECH AND DRAMA(THE) 1978-12-31 → 2012-12-06
3. CENTRAL SCHOOL OF SPEECH TRAINING AND DRAMATIC ART (THE) 1925-02-06 → 1978-12-31

Values shown as filed in the company's annual accounts. — indicates the figure wasn't present under that line item in that period. About these numbers

Margins divide P&L lines by turnover. Gearing is liabilities over total assets. Current ratio is current assets over creditors falling due within one year. Interest cover is operating profit over absolute finance costs. Sector-distribution context coming next.

Accounting basis

FRS 102

Reporting scope

Consolidated group

Auditor

HW Fisher Audit

Audit opinion

Unqualified (clean)

Going concern

Affirmed

“Royal Central has a stable income profile and a cash and investments balance of around £9 million, enabling us to meet our financial obligations, continue to invest strategically, and respond effectively to immediate challenges within the sector. This strong financial footing supports our ability to plan with confidence while maintaining resilience in a rapidly changing external environment. On this basis, we have prepared these financial statements as a going concern and remain confident in our financial sustainability for the future.”

Group structure

1. THE ROYAL CENTRAL SCHOOL OF SPEECH AND DRAMA · parent
   1. CSSD Enterprises Limited · England and Wales · operation of the student bar

Significant events

• “Royal Central is debt-free and efforts over the coming years will be focused on delivering Royal Central's ambitious capital programme to transform the estate and continue to enhance the student and staff experience.”
• “Royal Central launched a voluntary severance scheme as part of targeted financial recovery measures.”
• “In May 2025 Royal Central hosted an event in New York for alumni, incoming and prospective students.”
• “The Stage has covered news of Royal Central signing up to The Halo Code, the UK's Black hair code. Royal Central is the first drama school to sign up for the initiative.”
• “Several Royal Central graduates were nominated in the 2025 Olivier awards.”
• “Royal Central was awarded two grants totalling more than £550,000 from the Leverhulme Trust to establish a range of student scholarships across its undergraduate provision and Saturday Youth Theatre.”
• “Netflix announced a two-year funding commitment for the 'Performance Making Diploma' through its support of Access All Areas.”
• “Although 2024/25 returned a deficit, we remain cash-positive and debt-free, having fully repaid our loan during the year.”
• “Student recruitment saw significant improvement for 2024/25, achieving an 8% increase in new student intake compared to the previous year.”
• “In April, we were granted planning permission for the Centre for Performance, Technology and Equity development.”
• “We completed a comprehensive site utilisation review, providing valuable insights into how our estate is currently used and identifying opportunities to introduce new ways of working and optimise space for greater efficiency.”
• “In the 2024/25 academic year, Royal Central continued to enhance its capacity in knowledge exchange (KE) and impact activities, with targeted strategic investment to build expertise in this area.”

Auditor, going-concern and subsidiary information is drawn from the narrative of the latest annual accounts. About these numbers

Filings

11

last 12 months

Capital events

0

last 24 months

Officers appointed

5

last 12 months

Officers resigned

2

last 12 months

Direct counts from the register. No score, no rating — see the Filing timeline for the underlying events.

• Turnover

  +10.1%

  £11,778,000 → £12,972,000

• Cash

  -51.5%

  £14,151,000 → £6,858,000

• Net assets

  -3.1%

  £35,124,000 → £34,030,000

• Employees

  -10.2%

  294 → 264

• Profit before tax

  -45.1%

  -£692,000 → -£1,004,000

• Wages

  +4.8%

  £11,859,000 → £12,426,000

Each % is (latest − prior) ÷ |prior| for the line item as filed. The comparison is only shown when the latest and prior accounts cover broadly equal-length periods — short or long stubs (typical around incorporation or a year-end change) are suppressed rather than misrepresented. Lines a company doesn't report are omitted. About these numbers