Technical testing
UK companies organised by the CorpSignals industry, segment, and subsegment taxonomy.
Company snapshot
What this shows: the size and current activity of this classification, plus recent formations, company age, revenue coverage, and trade participation.
All companies
11342
Active companies
8601
Formed in latest 12 months
1321
Median active-company age
6.3 years
Revenue known
140
Importers
500
Exporters
371
Top values shown in the chart
| Category | Companies |
|---|---|
| All companies | 11,342 |
| Active companies | 8,601 |
| Formed in latest 12 months | 1,321 |
| Importers | 500 |
| Exporters | 371 |
Revenue coverage among active companies: 140 known, 8461 unknown (1.6%).
Company formations
What this shows: monthly incorporations and dissolutions from 1 January 2024, including companies of every current status.
Latest ten months shown in the chart
| Month | Formed | Dissolved |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-11 | 79 | 82 |
| 2025-12 | 97 | 79 |
| 2026-01 | 106 | 93 |
| 2026-02 | 92 | 84 |
| 2026-03 | 121 | 92 |
| 2026-04 | 122 | 81 |
| 2026-05 | 125 | 93 |
| 2026-06 | 137 | 81 |
| 2026-07 | 134 | 122 |
| 2026-08 | 25 | 45 |
Window: 2024-01 to 2026-08.
Company status
What this shows: all current Companies House status values; blank and missing values are combined as Unknown.
Top values shown in the chart
| Status | Companies |
|---|---|
| Active | 8,601 |
| Dissolved | 2,609 |
| Liquidation | 125 |
| In Administration | 5 |
| Voluntary Arrangement | 2 |
Active companies by UK region
What this shows: active companies with a known ITL2 region. The UK map falls back to a bar chart if map data cannot be loaded.
Top values shown in the chart
| ITL2 region | Companies |
|---|---|
| Inner London - West | 696 |
| Inner London - East | 572 |
| Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire | 331 |
| West Midlands | 327 |
| Greater Manchester | 325 |
| Northumberland, Durham and Tyne & Wear | 308 |
| Outer London - West and North West | 300 |
| Surrey, East and West Sussex | 289 |
| Hampshire and Isle of Wight | 237 |
| Tees Valley | 237 |
Geography coverage: 8515 known, 86 unknown (99.0%).
Revenue ranges
What this shows: active companies grouped into the platform’s ordered estimated-revenue bands.
Top values shown in the chart
| Revenue range | Companies |
|---|---|
| 0-1m | 5,069 |
| 1m-15m | 839 |
| 15m-54m | 26 |
| 54m+ | 71 |
Revenue-range coverage: 6005 known, 2596 unknown (69.8%).
Company size and employees
What this shows: active companies by published size category and by reported employee count.
Top values shown in the chart
| Company size | Companies |
|---|---|
| Micro | 3,121 |
| Small | 2,600 |
| Medium | 16 |
| Large | 104 |
| Holding | 18 |
| Dormant | 767 |
Company-size coverage: 6626 known, 1975 unknown (77.0%).
Top values shown in the chart
| Employees | Companies |
|---|---|
| 0 | 1,340 |
| 1–9 | 3,938 |
| 10–49 | 333 |
| 50–249 | 56 |
| 250+ | 3 |
Employee coverage: 5670 known, 2931 unknown (65.9%).
Active-company age
What this shows: how long currently active companies have been incorporated.
Top values shown in the chart
| Age band | Companies |
|---|---|
| Under 1 year | 1,303 |
| 1–3 years | 1,481 |
| 3–5 years | 970 |
| 5–10 years | 1,973 |
| 10–20 years | 1,776 |
| 20+ years | 1,098 |
Incorporation-date coverage: 8601 known, 0 unknown (100.0%).
Classification breakdown
What this shows: active companies across the next taxonomy level; direct assignments are labelled separately. The top 20 are shown and remaining values are combined as Other.
Top values shown in the chart
| Classification | Companies |
|---|---|
| Directly assigned to this segment | 8,601 |
International trade
What this shows: active-company participation in imports and exports, followed by the ten HS2 categories involving the most distinct companies.
Top values shown in the chart
| Trade participation | Companies |
|---|---|
| Importer only | 207 |
| Exporter only | 78 |
| Both | 293 |
| Neither | 8,023 |
Top imports HS2 categories
Top values shown in the chart
| HS2 category | Companies | GBP | Available dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90 — Optical and medical tools and devices | 354 | £24,176,959,249 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 85 — Electrical machinery and equipment | 264 | £73,667,375,088 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 84 — Machinery, boilers, and mechanical appliances; parts | 253 | £54,394,491,382 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 39 — Plastics and plastic products | 96 | £7,671,576,002 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 73 — Iron or Steel Products | 88 | £4,968,459,418 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 94 — Furniture, Lighting, and Prefabricated Buildings | 77 | £3,107,295,036 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 87 — Vehicles, parts, and accessories (not for trains or trams) | 73 | £16,909,544,487 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 38 — Miscellaneous chemical products | 67 | £5,481,394,443 | 2016-04-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 76 — Aluminum and aluminum products | 64 | £1,891,396,649 | 2016-05-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 82 — Basic metal tools and utensils | 50 | £364,735,930 | 2016-02-01 – 2026-05-01 |
Top exports HS2 categories
Top values shown in the chart
| HS2 category | Companies | GBP | Available dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90 — Optical and medical tools and devices | 258 | £20,745,138,397 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 85 — Electrical machinery and equipment | 190 | £22,538,820,390 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 84 — Machinery, boilers, and mechanical appliances; parts | 171 | £23,169,134,694 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 73 — Iron or Steel Products | 73 | £2,622,359,903 | 2016-02-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 87 — Vehicles, parts, and accessories (not for trains or trams) | 57 | £5,073,348,577 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 39 — Plastics and plastic products | 54 | £2,919,191,538 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 94 — Furniture, Lighting, and Prefabricated Buildings | 41 | £632,015,955 | 2016-05-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 38 — Miscellaneous chemical products | 37 | £3,436,250,542 | 2016-02-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 82 — Basic metal tools and utensils | 37 | £173,933,332 | 2016-03-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 40 — Rubber and rubber products | 34 | £502,218,790 | 2016-03-01 – 2026-05-01 |
Business and digital traits
What this shows: active companies identified with selected ownership, business-model, and online-presence traits.
Values shown in the chart with data coverage
| Trait | Companies | Known | Unknown | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family business | 913 | 7,594 | 1,007 | 88.3% |
| Holding company | 1 | 7,594 | 1,007 | 88.3% |
| Solo founder | 4,387 | 7,594 | 1,007 | 88.3% |
| Ecommerce | 31 | 382 | 8,219 | 4.4% |
| Website | 458 | 467 | 8,134 | 5.4% |
| 386 | 467 | 8,134 | 5.4% |
Leading active companies
What this shows: the ten active companies with the highest non-missing revenue, with company number used as the deterministic tie-breaker.
Top values shown in the chart
| Company | Revenue |
|---|---|
| Werfen Limited | £49,322,986 |
| Als Laboratories (uk) Limited | £41,475,000 |
| Framatome Limited | £39,692,978 |
| Orchid Cellmark Ltd | £33,104,000 |
| As International Corporation Ltd | £23,652,844 |
| Lucion Delta-simons Ltd | £20,615,419 |
| Katech Ingredient Solutions Ltd | £16,930,639 |
| Geotechnics Limited | £15,230,521 |
| Icw Technical Services Ltd | £14,412,175 |
| Import Export Services (grp) Limited | £13,754,632 |
Revenue coverage: 140 known, 8461 unknown (1.6%).
Related classifications
What this shows: sibling classifications ranked by distinct active companies, excluding the current node. The top 20 are shown and remaining values are combined as Other.
Top values shown in the chart
| Classification | Companies |
|---|---|
| Management consluting | 286,236 |
| Professional services n.e.c. | 84,880 |
| Advertising agencies | 55,749 |
| Creative and Industrial Design | 52,014 |
| Accounting and audit | 45,245 |
| Non-trading company | 41,550 |
| Non-industrial engineering | 40,771 |
| Geospatial services | 35,836 |
| Head office services | 31,137 |
| Bookkeeping | 25,793 |
| Financial management | 22,809 |
| Architechts | 21,395 |
| Public relations | 16,725 |
| Media sales | 14,630 |
| Environmental consulting | 13,949 |
| Scientific and technical R&D | 13,941 |
| Tax consulting | 13,397 |
| Industrial engineering | 12,757 |
| Solicitors | 12,511 |
| Copyright agents | 10,418 |
| Other | 64,653 |
SIC classification
SIC 71200 — Technical testing and analysis
Includes
performance of physical, chemical and other analytical testing of all types of materials and products, such as:, acoustics and vibration testing, testing of composition and purity of minerals etc., testing activities in the field of food hygiene, including veterinary testing and control in relation to food production, testing of physical characteristics and performance of materials, such as strength, thickness, durability, radioactivity etc., qualification and reliability testing, performance testing of complete machinery: motors, automobiles, electronic equipment etc., radiographic testing of welds and joints, failure analysis, testing and measuring of environmental indicators: air and water pollution etc., certification of products, including consumer goods, motor vehicles, aircraft, pressurised containers, nuclear plants etc., periodic road-safety testing of motor vehicles, testing with use of models or mock-ups (e.g. of aircraft, ships, dams etc.), operation of police laboratories
Excludes
testing of animal specimens, see ##75.00, diagnostic imaging, testing and analysis of medical and dental specimens, see ##86
Details
This class includes research and experimental development on biotechnology.