Statistics of companies in UK

Companies population in South East

Number of companies in region South East is 1,370,437, which is 12.4% of all 11,024,893 companies in UK. South East is ranked 2nd among 12 regions in the number of companies. Last update of company data was on 31/01/2025.

Companies location and business activity breakdown in South East

The region with the highest number of companies - 244,161 is Hampshire. Medway has the lowest number of companies - 39,133. The top three most frequently registered business activities are Science - 16.5%, Wholesale, retail - 11.6% and ICT - 10.8%.

Number of companies by county 1,370,437 companies with data in South East

Hampshire
244,161
17.8%
Kent
226,544
16.5%
Surrey
209,739
15.3%
Berkshire
165,064
12.0%
Buckinghamshire
149,137
10.9%
East Sussex
134,619
9.8%
West Sussex
113,008
8.2%
Oxfordshire
89,032
6.5%
Medway
39,133
2.9%

Business activity overview 1,317,260 companies with data in South East

Science
225,776
16.5%
Wholesale, retail
159,654
11.6%
ICT
147,597
10.8%
Construction
142,322
10.4%
Administrative
140,014
10.2%
Real Estate
101,134
7.4%
Service
70,776
5.2%
Accommodation
63,839
4.7%
Health
63,154
4.6%
Manufacturing
53,907
3.9%
Transportation
44,546
3.3%
Dormant
43,710
3.2%
Arts
41,008
3.0%
Financial
40,949
3.0%
Home
32,359
2.4%
Education
30,221
2.2%
Agriculture
8,173
0.6%
Water
4,664
0.3%
Public
3,765
0.3%
Energy
3,709
0.3%
Mining
1,635
0.1%
Extraterritorial
351
0.0%

Industrial classification of companies in South East

The Standard Industrial Classification code (SIC code) is a system of classifying industries in UK by business activities. Each company can operate under multiple SIC codes. The top three business activities for the whole of the UK are Management consultancy exl. financial - 6.3%, Other business support service - 5.2% and Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate - 4.7%.

Distribution of companies by SIC CODE 1,317,260 companies with data in South East

Companies population incorporation and dissolution trend in South East

The highest number of incorporated companies in any one month is 9,465 in in April 2024. There are usually fewer dissolved companies than incorporated, the highest number recorded being for October 2020 - 13,985 companies were dissolved.

Incorporation and dissolution of companies by month South East

Would you like to know more about the UK market?

Get access to data on 6M+ UK businesses and create your own visualizations, infographics, reports and presentations.

Persons with significant control
in companies in South East

Persons with Significant Control (PSC) have been registered in Companies House since April 2016. PSC have various functions, e.g. ownership of shares or voting rights. In this section we analyse companies with at least one Person with Significant Control from a foreign country.

Top countries with local PSCs in companies in South East

The most popular country, as regards to PSC origin, is United States. In January 2025, there were 1,662 companies with at least one PCS from United States. Other popular countries are China, Hungary and Germany.

Top 10 countries with local PSCs South East

Percentage of companies with foreign PSCs being incorporated each month in the South East

The highest proportion of companies with a foreign PSC to be incorporated in one month was in December 2023 - 1.95%. Since 2017 the number of dissolutions has exceeded the number of new incorporations. The highest proportion to be dissolved in one month was 5.88% was in August 2020. The low number of dissolutions in 2016 is the result of only a small number of companies registering their PSC in Company House in that year.

Percentage of companies with foreign persons (PSC) incorporated and dissolved each month South East