UK industries

Construction, capital goods, machinery, electrical equipment, transport & logistics, waste management and professional/business services. The workhorse of the UK register — fragmented, geographically spread, and where contract-driven revenue swings, headcount changes and overdue-accounts flags show up first when a cycle turns.

Companies

105,735

Detailed

23,836 (23%)

The discretionary side of household spending — retail, hospitality, leisure, media, autos, education and personal services. Cyclical with consumer confidence and credit conditions, and the broadest ICB industry by company count, with a long tail of small operators that drags down the average filer.

Companies

92,410

Detailed

22,034 (24%)

Property development, investment, letting and agency. Heavily holding-co structured: each scheme typically sits in its own SPV, so the group accounts and the parent → subsidiary tree are where the real business lives. Yield and leverage carry the signal; turnover rarely does.

Companies

32,106

Detailed

4,176 (13%)

Hospitals, residential and social care, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and biotech R&D. A mixed economy of NHS-funded providers, private operators and venture-backed therapeutics — wage costs and going-concern flags often diverge sharply by sub-segment.

Companies

17,510

Detailed

3,898 (22%)

Software, IT services, hardware and electronics. From AIM-listed scale-ups to large outsourced delivery firms — the highest concentration of detailed filers on the register, and the industry where headcount growth, recurring-revenue patterns and equity-funded losses tell the loudest story.

Companies

17,122

Detailed

4,247 (25%)

Public administration, households-as-employers and extraterritorial bodies — SIC divisions with no natural industry home. Not an ICB industry; shown here rather than force-fitted into a category that doesn't describe the actual activity.

Companies

14,690

Detailed

7,603 (52%)

Banks, insurance, asset management and credit intermediaries. The accounts here look different from everywhere else — IFRS bank and insurer formats with no operating turnover line — so the readable signals are net assets, regulatory-capital ratios and director/PSC concentration rather than P&L.

Companies

14,056

Detailed

7,750 (55%)

Food, drink and tobacco production, agriculture, fishing and food retail. Counter-cyclical: revenue is sticky through downturns and margins are thin and stable, so the interesting signal is usually working-capital management and wage inflation rather than top-line growth.

Companies

6,642

Detailed

1,891 (28%)

Electricity, gas, water and sewerage supply. Tightly regulated and capital-heavy — the readable numbers are regulated asset base, gearing and customer-base scale, not turnover growth. Most operating businesses sit inside group structures with a regulated entity at the centre.

Companies

5,415

Detailed

1,750 (32%)

Chemicals, metals and mining, paper and timber. A small ICB industry by count but capital-intensive per filer — commodity exposure and currency mix matter more than turnover growth, and asset impairments tend to cluster when prices roll over.

Companies

4,831

Detailed

2,096 (43%)

Fixed-line, wireless and telecoms infrastructure. A small ICB industry by count, dominated by a handful of network owners and a long tail of resellers and managed-service firms — capital-intensive, regulated, and where leverage levels carry real signal.

Companies

1,849

Detailed

631 (34%)

Oil & gas extraction, coal mining, refining and energy support services. A few large producers plus a long tail of services and decommissioning specialists. Profitability tracks commodity prices, and balance-sheet write-downs and abandonment costs lead the signal.

Companies

1,145

Detailed

742 (65%)