Retail
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
870687
Active companies
516859
Formed in latest 12 months
127014
Median active-company age
2.9 years
Revenue known
7401
Importers
35724
Exporters
14238
Top values shown in the chart
| Category | Companies |
|---|---|
| All companies | 870,687 |
| Active companies | 516,859 |
| Formed in latest 12 months | 127,014 |
| Importers | 35,724 |
| Exporters | 14,238 |
Revenue coverage among active companies: 7401 known, 509458 unknown (1.4%).
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 | 9,920 | 9,847 |
| 2025-12 | 8,286 | 11,159 |
| 2026-01 | 11,822 | 9,924 |
| 2026-02 | 8,764 | 10,644 |
| 2026-03 | 10,151 | 11,890 |
| 2026-04 | 9,942 | 8,209 |
| 2026-05 | 9,486 | 9,196 |
| 2026-06 | 9,738 | 7,297 |
| 2026-07 | 11,142 | 14,371 |
| 2026-08 | 2,118 | 5,190 |
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 | 516,859 |
| Dissolved | 347,122 |
| Liquidation | 6,373 |
| In Administration | 245 |
| Insolvency Proceedings | 30 |
| Voluntary Arrangement | 29 |
| Receiver Action | 17 |
| Converted / Closed | 12 |
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 - East | 55,942 |
| Inner London - West | 43,453 |
| Greater Manchester | 32,359 |
| Outer London - West and North West | 30,915 |
| West Midlands | 28,077 |
| Outer London - East and North East | 26,983 |
| West Yorkshire | 17,093 |
| Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire | 16,597 |
| Surrey, East and West Sussex | 16,038 |
| Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire | 13,014 |
Geography coverage: 511625 known, 5234 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 | 238,876 |
| 1m-15m | 35,682 |
| 15m-54m | 1,328 |
| 54m+ | 1,301 |
Revenue-range coverage: 277187 known, 239672 unknown (53.6%).
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 | 161,481 |
| Small | 104,810 |
| Medium | 390 |
| Large | 2,104 |
| Holding | 541 |
| Dormant | 48,461 |
Company-size coverage: 317787 known, 199072 unknown (61.5%).
Top values shown in the chart
| Employees | Companies |
|---|---|
| 0 | 80,224 |
| 1–9 | 168,063 |
| 10–49 | 14,734 |
| 50–249 | 1,338 |
| 250+ | 166 |
Employee coverage: 264525 known, 252334 unknown (51.2%).
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 | 121,912 |
| 1–3 years | 140,619 |
| 3–5 years | 61,619 |
| 5–10 years | 99,838 |
| 10–20 years | 61,025 |
| 20+ years | 31,845 |
Incorporation-date coverage: 516858 known, 1 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 |
|---|---|
| Online & mailorder | 216,098 |
| Other: vending machines, door-to-door, etc | 54,218 |
| Department stores | 40,211 |
| Hyper & supermarkets, general stores | 38,316 |
| Clothing Stores | 31,398 |
| Stalls | 18,310 |
| Vehicle parts and accessories | 14,693 |
| Other specialised stores | 14,457 |
| Specialised food stores n.e.c. | 12,946 |
| Cosmetics Store | 11,601 |
| Home furnishing stores | 11,273 |
| Outdoor & Sporting Goods Stores | 10,523 |
| Watches and jewellery stores | 9,312 |
| Garden & Pet Supply Stores | 8,181 |
| Pharmacy | 8,018 |
| Bakeries & Confectionery | 7,862 |
| Beverage stores | 6,009 |
| Butchers | 5,831 |
| Mobile phone stores | 5,817 |
| Flooring Store | 5,787 |
| Other | 68,473 |
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 | 25,635 |
| Exporter only | 4,149 |
| Both | 10,089 |
| Neither | 476,986 |
Top imports HS2 categories
Top values shown in the chart
| HS2 category | Companies | GBP | Available dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 94 — Furniture, Lighting, and Prefabricated Buildings | 9,290 | £86,678,043,767 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 85 — Electrical machinery and equipment | 8,762 | £359,856,566,191 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 84 — Machinery, boilers, and mechanical appliances; parts | 7,812 | £299,381,802,342 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 62 — Clothing and accessories, not knitted or crocheted | 7,063 | £68,139,503,753 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 61 — Clothing and accessories made by knitting or crocheting | 6,213 | £80,572,450,601 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 95 — Toys, games, and sports equipment | 6,196 | £43,794,312,554 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 90 — Optical and medical tools and devices | 5,924 | £86,744,414,731 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 73 — Iron or Steel Products | 5,697 | £40,667,465,538 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 39 — Plastics and plastic products | 5,448 | £68,175,765,689 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 63 — Various textile products, sets, used clothing, and rags | 5,281 | £18,801,197,540 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
Top exports HS2 categories
Top values shown in the chart
| HS2 category | Companies | GBP | Available dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 85 — Electrical machinery and equipment | 3,708 | £113,958,196,181 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 84 — Machinery, boilers, and mechanical appliances; parts | 3,344 | £152,887,500,728 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 94 — Furniture, Lighting, and Prefabricated Buildings | 2,919 | £18,498,400,896 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 62 — Clothing and accessories, not knitted or crocheted | 2,822 | £15,954,270,552 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 90 — Optical and medical tools and devices | 2,754 | £63,571,115,354 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 61 — Clothing and accessories made by knitting or crocheting | 2,435 | £13,453,713,590 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 95 — Toys, games, and sports equipment | 2,148 | £9,793,661,163 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 87 — Vehicles, parts, and accessories (not for trains or trams) | 1,962 | £73,441,357,667 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 42 — Leather goods, travel bags, and animal harnesses | 1,810 | £6,470,919,069 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-05-01 |
| 63 — Various textile products, sets, used clothing, and rags | 1,732 | £5,235,422,497 | 2016-01-01 – 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 | 38,157 | 486,299 | 30,560 | 94.1% |
| Holding company | 78 | 486,299 | 30,560 | 94.1% |
| Solo founder | 323,327 | 486,299 | 30,560 | 94.1% |
| Ecommerce | 17,684 | 36,719 | 480,140 | 7.1% |
| Website | 43,061 | 45,863 | 470,996 | 8.9% |
| 18,768 | 45,863 | 470,996 | 8.9% |
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 |
|---|---|
| Healthnet Homecare (uk) Limited | £966,827,000 |
| Schuh Limited | £370,953,052 |
| Ford & Slater Limited | £364,584,874 |
| Harding Brothers Retail Limited | £296,145,361 |
| Harding Retail Ihc Ltd | £296,145,302 |
| M And M Direct Limited | £289,492,000 |
| Vantage Motor Group Limited | £273,292,000 |
| Gymshark Ltd | £260,674,000 |
| Chesterfield Poultry Limited | £245,764,750 |
| Lawrence Vehicles Limited | £215,330,000 |
Revenue coverage: 7401 known, 509458 unknown (1.4%).
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 |
|---|---|
| Professional services | 810,503 |
| Real estate | 685,071 |
| Construction | 575,709 |
| Technology | 363,883 |
| Hospitality & Food Services | 309,498 |
| Health & social care | 272,773 |
| Business support | 259,050 |
| Personal services | 257,445 |
| Processing & manufacturing | 198,561 |
| Entertainment | 180,063 |
| Wholesale | 172,253 |
| Transport & storage | 171,321 |
| Education | 155,388 |
| Activities for own use | 141,847 |
| Holding companies | 138,597 |
| Industry not specified | 136,034 |
| Dormant company | 111,727 |
| Maintenance & repair | 107,898 |
| Facility Services | 93,646 |
| Finance | 85,335 |
| Other | 595,724 |