Over 200,000 more businesses trading in the UK
30 07 2008 United Kingdom
Latest estimates show 4.7 million UK private sector enterprises at the start of last year, up by 212,000 on 12 months earlier says the Department for Business
The numbers of businesses across the UK have increased by 4.8 per cent according to the latest figures from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. The latest figure shows the largest number of businesses since current records began in 1994.
These enterprises employed 22.7 million people and had an estimated annual turnover of £2,800 billion. More than 99 per cent of these businesses have fewer than 50 employees and are officially classified as ‘small’.
Only 27,000 are medium-sized businesses (50 to 249 employees) and just 6,000 are large firms.
Small businesses alone accounted for 47.5 per cent of employment and 37.4 per cent of turnover. In fact small businesses together produced significantly more in turnover than large firms.
1.2 million UK enterprises are registered as companies, the tenth successive annual increase, and 60 per cent had employees. 3 million operate as sole traders and 10 per cent of these had staff on their payroll. Half a million businesses trade as partnerships.
The number of sole traders increased by 168,000 or 6 per cent, reflecting the increased number of start-ups. There was a big increase in enterprises that were not registered for PAYE or VAT.
Approximately 1.5 million businesses are based in London and the South East, representing nearly one in three of all UK businesses. However enterprises in London had the lowest share of employment.
Almost a quarter of all UK enterprises operate in business services. The biggest sector for employment was Wholesale, Retail and Repairs with 21 per cent of UK private sector employment.
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