Where every figure on this site came from.
Three categories — published, reported and estimated — and a rule for each. The interesting page is not the one with the numbers on it. It is this one, which says how much to trust them.
The headline figures, and where each one comes from.
| Figure | Value | Category | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hawkstone sales, year to March 2025 | £21.3 million | Published | The Sunday Times 100, June 2025 |
| Hawkstone growth, three-year average | 134 per cent | Published | The same ranking |
| Hawkstone equity, to 31 March 2025 | £432,512 to just over £3 million | Published | Companies House |
| The farming, year one | £144 profit | Reported | Clarkson’s own published statements |
| The farming, 2023–24 | Under £15,000 | Reported | The same |
| The farming, 2024–25 | A loss of about £5,000 | Reported | The same |
| Pub employment | More than 140 | Reported | Press coverage at the one-year mark |
| Only Farmers incorporation | 26 February 2026, company 17058134 | Published | Companies House |
| Only Farmers listings | Over 1,300 farms | Reported | Company statements |
| Average English cereals farm, agriculture only | A net loss of £27,400 in 2024–25 | Published | Defra Farm Business Income |
| Scheme income share | ≈30 per cent of average farm business income | Published | Defra |
| The value-add multiple | 20 to 40 times, barley to beer | Estimated | This site, doing arithmetic on published grain and retail prices |
| Customer acquisition cost | ≈ zero | Estimated | This site, and it is an argument rather than a measurement |
The three categories, and what each is worth.
| Published | Reported | Estimated | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where it comes from | A filing, a ranking or a public register | Press coverage, or a statement by somebody involved | This site, doing arithmetic | |
| How checkable | Entirely. Go and look | As far as the outlet is reliable | Only as far as the working is shown | |
| How it is marked | Named source, with a date | Reported, with the source named | Labelled an estimate, every time | |
| Used in a headline? | Yes | Yes, marked | Never | |
| Example | £21.3m to March 2025 | £144 in year one | The twenty-to-forty-times multiple |
The four figures we are least confident about.
The farming results, because they are Clarkson’s own published statements rather than audited accounts. The farming entities file abbreviated or micro accounts, so precise turnover is not public and never has been. They are almost certainly directionally right and they are not a filing.
The value-add multiple, because twenty to forty times is a range wide enough to be doing a lot of work. It is arithmetic on a grain price and a retail price and it ignores every cost in between, which is precisely the point being made — but it is an argument rather than a margin.
The customer acquisition cost, because "close to zero" is a rhetorical figure. The real number is not zero; it is the cost of making a television programme, which somebody else pays, which is a different and much more interesting statement than the one usually made about it.
And the Only Farmers listing count, because 1,300 farms is a supply-side number and no demand-side figure has been published at all. A marketplace with plenty of sellers and no published buyers is a marketplace with one half of its story missing.
What this site will not do with a number.
| Rule | Why |
|---|---|
| Annualise a partial year | It flatters, it is untestable, and it is how most inflated figures start |
| Compare turnover to profit and call it a margin | Because they are different things and the comparison is always favourable |
| Carry a figure forward once a newer one exists | A stale figure that suits you is a lie with a date on it |
| Quietly drop a figure that has become unflattering | The loss years stay on the page next to the good ones |
| Put an estimate in a headline | An estimate in large type stops being an estimate within a week |
| Cite a figure without naming where it came from | An unsourced number is an opinion in a serif font |
This build is unofficial and unaudited
Nothing here is affiliated with, endorsed by or authorised by any of the businesses described. No accounts have been examined by anybody with standing to examine them. Figures are point-in-time and some of them will already be out of date by the time you read this.
The numbers, questioned.
Because the farming entities file abbreviated or micro accounts, which do not disclose turnover. The figures used are Clarkson’s own published statements, and they are labelled reported rather than published for exactly that reason.
It is arithmetic on a published grain price and a published retail price, ignoring every cost in between. It is a real illustration of where value sits in a chain and it is not a margin.
The correction goes on the page rather than into a changelog nobody reads. What we got wrong is the page for the ones we have already found.
And the ones we have already got wrong.
A list, on the site, rather than a quiet edit.
