Investigations
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
2842
Active companies
2033
Formed in latest 12 months
282
Median active-company age
6.9 years
Revenue known
36
Importers
16
Exporters
9
Top values shown in the chart
| Category | Companies |
|---|---|
| All companies | 2,842 |
| Active companies | 2,033 |
| Formed in latest 12 months | 282 |
| Importers | 16 |
| Exporters | 9 |
Revenue coverage among active companies: 36 known, 1997 unknown (1.8%).
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 | 18 | 16 |
| 2025-12 | 17 | 29 |
| 2026-01 | 23 | 24 |
| 2026-02 | 17 | 31 |
| 2026-03 | 23 | 27 |
| 2026-04 | 34 | 22 |
| 2026-05 | 20 | 19 |
| 2026-06 | 25 | 15 |
| 2026-07 | 30 | 41 |
| 2026-08 | 10 | 19 |
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 | 1,765 |
| Dissolved | 780 |
| Dormant | 268 |
| Liquidation | 29 |
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 | 288 |
| Inner London - East | 207 |
| Outer London - West and North West | 96 |
| Greater Manchester | 87 |
| Surrey, East and West Sussex | 85 |
| Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire | 76 |
| Outer London - East and North East | 73 |
| Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire | 64 |
| Essex | 64 |
| West Midlands | 58 |
Geography coverage: 2018 known, 15 unknown (99.3%).
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 | 1,236 |
| 1m-15m | 142 |
| 15m-54m | 5 |
| 54m+ | 6 |
Revenue-range coverage: 1389 known, 644 unknown (68.3%).
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 | 805 |
| Small | 524 |
| Large | 11 |
| Holding | 6 |
| Dormant | 268 |
Company-size coverage: 1614 known, 419 unknown (79.4%).
Top values shown in the chart
| Employees | Companies |
|---|---|
| 0 | 363 |
| 1–9 | 885 |
| 10–49 | 45 |
| 50–249 | 14 |
Employee coverage: 1307 known, 726 unknown (64.3%).
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 | 274 |
| 1–3 years | 322 |
| 3–5 years | 221 |
| 5–10 years | 471 |
| 10–20 years | 516 |
| 20+ years | 229 |
Incorporation-date coverage: 2033 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 | 2,033 |
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 | 12 |
| Exporter only | 5 |
| Both | 4 |
| Neither | 2,012 |
Top imports HS2 categories
Top values shown in the chart
| HS2 category | Companies | GBP | Available dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 85 — Electrical machinery and equipment | 11 | £1,909,909,878 | 2016-02-01 – 2026-03-01 |
| 84 — Machinery, boilers, and mechanical appliances; parts | 10 | £732,854,104 | 2016-02-01 – 2026-03-01 |
| 90 — Optical and medical tools and devices | 4 | £147,877,224 | 2016-01-01 – 2026-04-01 |
| 32 — Tanning and dyeing products | 1 | £1,728,641 | 2023-08-01 – 2023-08-01 |
| 33 — Essential oils and perfumes | 1 | £159,227,931 | 2023-11-01 – 2023-11-01 |
| 62 — Clothing and accessories, not knitted or crocheted | 1 | £7,838,604 | 2016-11-01 – 2016-11-01 |
| 73 — Iron or Steel Products | 1 | £47,837,412 | 2016-11-01 – 2016-11-01 |
| 94 — Furniture, Lighting, and Prefabricated Buildings | 1 | £26,078,175 | 2024-07-01 – 2024-07-01 |
Top exports HS2 categories
Top values shown in the chart
| HS2 category | Companies | GBP | Available dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 85 — Electrical machinery and equipment | 6 | £563,326,188 | 2018-05-01 – 2025-08-01 |
| 90 — Optical and medical tools and devices | 6 | £95,038,791 | 2016-08-01 – 2025-10-01 |
| 84 — Machinery, boilers, and mechanical appliances; parts | 4 | £291,237,953 | 2017-02-01 – 2024-07-01 |
| 48 — Paper and Paperboard Products | 1 | £4,235,074 | 2018-05-01 – 2018-05-01 |
| 96 — Miscellaneous manufactured goods | 1 | £559,635 | 2022-04-01 – 2022-04-01 |
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 | 216 | 1,876 | 157 | 92.3% |
| Holding company | 0 | 1,876 | 157 | 92.3% |
| Solo founder | 1,002 | 1,876 | 157 | 92.3% |
| Ecommerce | 1 | 17 | 2,016 | 0.8% |
| Website | 21 | 21 | 2,012 | 1.0% |
| 15 | 21 | 2,012 | 1.0% |
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 |
|---|---|
| Effective Security Services Limited | £42,220,930 |
| Berkeley Research Group (uk) Limited | £27,303,219 |
| Fact Worldwide Limited | £23,118,059 |
| Finders Genealogists Limited | £11,957,272 |
| Shadow Elite Ltd | £693,942 |
| Office Of The Complaints Commissioner | £566,317 |
| Bbfi Cic | £493,416 |
| Bluevoyant Uk Limited | £264,372 |
| Lodge Service Uk Limited | £257,738 |
| Computer Forensics Lab Ltd | £230,500 |
Revenue coverage: 36 known, 1997 unknown (1.8%).
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 |
|---|---|
| Private security | 16,481 |
| Security systems | 10,889 |
SIC classification
SIC 80300 — Investigation activities
Includes
investigation and detective service activities, activities of all private investigators, independent of the type of client or purpose of investigation
Details
This class includes the provision of a combination of support services within a client's facilities. These services include general interior cleaning, maintenance, trash disposal, guard and security, mail routing, reception, laundry and related services to support operations within facilities. These support activities are performed by operating staff who are not involved with or responsible for the core business or activities of the client.