Books
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
15951
Active companies
11729
Formed in latest 12 months
1845
Median active-company age
5.3 years
Revenue known
468
Importers
305
Exporters
223
Top values shown in the chart
| Category | Companies |
|---|---|
| All companies | 15,951 |
| Active companies | 11,729 |
| Formed in latest 12 months | 1,845 |
| Importers | 305 |
| Exporters | 223 |
Revenue coverage among active companies: 468 known, 11261 unknown (4.0%).
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 | 148 | 134 |
| 2025-12 | 130 | 160 |
| 2026-01 | 179 | 130 |
| 2026-02 | 109 | 159 |
| 2026-03 | 139 | 171 |
| 2026-04 | 147 | 125 |
| 2026-05 | 140 | 158 |
| 2026-06 | 172 | 105 |
| 2026-07 | 182 | 226 |
| 2026-08 | 103 | 109 |
Window: 2024-01 to 2026-08.
Company status
What this shows: all current Companies House status values. Companies House Active records with dormant accounts are shown as Dormant; the remaining Companies House Active records are shown as Active. Blank and missing values are combined as Unknown.
Top values shown in the chart
| Status | Companies |
|---|---|
| Active | 10,022 |
| Dissolved | 4,159 |
| Dormant | 1,707 |
| Liquidation | 55 |
| In Administration | 4 |
| Converted / Closed | 3 |
| Voluntary Arrangement | 1 |
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 | 1,926 |
| Inner London - East | 1,599 |
| Outer London - West and North West | 624 |
| Surrey, East and West Sussex | 536 |
| Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire | 502 |
| Outer London - East and North East | 392 |
| Outer London - South | 349 |
| West Midlands | 304 |
| Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire | 301 |
| Greater Manchester | 285 |
Geography coverage: 11653 known, 76 unknown (99.4%).
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 | 6,600 |
| 1m-15m | 621 |
| 15m-54m | 17 |
| 54m+ | 69 |
Revenue-range coverage: 7307 known, 4422 unknown (62.3%).
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 | 4,588 |
| Small | 2,318 |
| Medium | 4 |
| Large | 97 |
| Holding | 21 |
| Dormant | 1,707 |
Company-size coverage: 8735 known, 2994 unknown (74.5%).
Top values shown in the chart
| Employees | Companies |
|---|---|
| 0 | 3,013 |
| 1–9 | 3,737 |
| 10–49 | 107 |
| 50–249 | 14 |
| 250+ | 3 |
Employee coverage: 6874 known, 4855 unknown (58.6%).
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 | 1,807 |
| 1–3 years | 2,434 |
| 3–5 years | 1,412 |
| 5–10 years | 2,508 |
| 10–20 years | 2,009 |
| 20+ years | 1,559 |
Incorporation-date coverage: 11729 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 | 11,729 |
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 | 159 |
| Exporter only | 77 |
| Both | 146 |
| Neither | 11,347 |
Top imports HS2 categories
Top values shown in the chart
| HS2 category | Companies | GBP | Available dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 49 — Printed materials like books, newspapers, and pictures | 249 | £6,787,082,446 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 95 — Toys, games, and sports equipment | 98 | £3,655,206,053 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 85 — Electrical machinery and equipment | 65 | £10,265,926,986 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 84 — Machinery, boilers, and mechanical appliances; parts | 50 | £13,319,852,070 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 48 — Paper and Paperboard Products | 46 | £702,101,210 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 94 — Furniture, Lighting, and Prefabricated Buildings | 37 | £1,386,906,936 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-04-01 |
| 90 — Optical and medical tools and devices | 30 | £1,493,736,822 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 96 — Miscellaneous manufactured goods | 29 | £223,162,645 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 63 — Various textile products, sets, used clothing, and rags | 27 | £1,282,714,751 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-02-01 |
| 61 — Clothing and accessories made by knitting or crocheting | 24 | £1,328,440,836 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-04-01 |
Top exports HS2 categories
Top values shown in the chart
| HS2 category | Companies | GBP | Available dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 49 — Printed materials like books, newspapers, and pictures | 193 | £12,700,466,313 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 95 — Toys, games, and sports equipment | 55 | £624,861,174 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 85 — Electrical machinery and equipment | 48 | £4,163,173,001 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 84 — Machinery, boilers, and mechanical appliances; parts | 41 | £2,460,529,057 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 90 — Optical and medical tools and devices | 30 | £690,147,960 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-04-01 |
| 48 — Paper and Paperboard Products | 28 | £142,476,301 | 2016-02-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 94 — Furniture, Lighting, and Prefabricated Buildings | 22 | £191,276,841 | 2016-02-01 – 2026-04-01 |
| 97 — Art and Antiques | 19 | £2,135,257,548 | 2016-03-01 – 2026-02-01 |
| 96 — Miscellaneous manufactured goods | 18 | £23,035,825 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-03-01 |
| 61 — Clothing and accessories made by knitting or crocheting | 17 | £180,392,492 | 2016-06-01 – 2026-04-01 |
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 | 953 | 10,733 | 996 | 91.5% |
| Holding company | 1 | 10,733 | 996 | 91.5% |
| Solo founder | 6,360 | 10,733 | 996 | 91.5% |
| Ecommerce | 94 | 285 | 11,444 | 2.4% |
| Website | 356 | 371 | 11,358 | 3.2% |
| 210 | 371 | 11,358 | 3.2% |
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 |
|---|---|
| The Random House Group Limited | £255,133,870 |
| Penguin Books Limited | £247,168,000 |
| Dorling Kindersley Limited | £115,529,676 |
| Coordination Group Publications Ltd | £36,806,998 |
| Little Tiger Press Limited | £34,786,700 |
| Ladybird Books Limited | £34,153,243 |
| Lostmy.name Ltd | £33,916,457 |
| Quadrille Publishing Limited | £25,558,881 |
| Profile Books Limited | £21,500,982 |
| Frederick Warne & Co Limited | £19,621,480 |
Revenue coverage: 468 known, 11261 unknown (4.0%).
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 |
|---|---|
| Other print | 16,577 |
| Consumer & business magasines | 3,309 |
| Academic journals | 1,007 |
| Newspapers | 995 |
| Directories | 649 |
SIC classification
SIC 58110 — Book publishing
Includes
publishing of books, brochures, leaflets and similar publications, including publishing of dictionaries and encyclopaedias, publishing of atlases, maps and charts, publishing of audio books, publishing of encyclopaedias etc. on CD-ROM
Excludes
production of globes, see ##32.99, publishing of advertising material, see ##58.19, publishing of music and sheet books, see ##59.20, activities of independent authors, see ##90.03
Details
This class includes the publishing of lists of facts/information (databases) that are protected in their form, but not in their content. These lists can be published in printed or electronic form.