Business Population Increases To 4.9m

the business population of the UK was estimated to have increased by 102,000 to 4.9m at the start of 2013 according to statistics from the Business Department (BIS) and the ONS. It continues a steady growth since 2000 and 2013 is the highest estimate yet.

The rise is mainly due to the increase in the number of small, non-employing businesses, up 127,000. The growth is offset by a fall in the number of employing businesses of 26,000.

The 4.9m private sector businesses employed a total of 24.3m people and had a combined turnover of £3,300bn. Of these 99.9% are SMEs employing 14.4m people (59.3% of private sector employment) accounting for £1,600bn or 48.1% of private sector turnover.

The majority of private sector businesses were sole proprietorships, 28.5% were companies and 8.9% were partnerships and 75.3% did not employ anyone beside the business owner.

An Increase In The Number Of UK Businesses

The estimated number of private sector business in the UK at the start of 2010 increased by 48,000 to 4.5m according to statistics from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. They employed an estimated 22.5m people and had a combined annual turnover of £3,200bn. SMEs accounted for 99.9% of all enterprises, 59.1% of private sector employment and 48.6% of turnover. Two thirds, 64.2%, of private sector businesses were sole proprietorships, 27.6% were companies and 8.2% were partnerships.

The largest sector in terms of numbers of enterprises was construction with 899,000 businesses, professional, scientific and technical came next with 602,000. There were 146,000 enterprises in agriculture, forestry and fishing, 498,000 in wholesale, retail trade, repair and 291,000 in human health and social work activities.

The South East had the most private sector enterprises with 732,000, followed by London with 706,000. The East of England came third with 474,000. The North East had the least number of enterprises with 122,000. Next bottom was the East Midlands with 306,000. Scotland had 288,000, Wales 192,000 and N. Ireland 121,000.

Foreign Investment In UK Up To £12bn

Foreign companies invested £12bn in a total of 51 UK companies in Q3 compared with £2.7bn in 43 companies in Q2 2010. British companies invested £5bn in a total of 40 foreign companies in Q3 2010 compared with £2.4bn in 44 companies in Q2 2010. British companies invested £2.6bn in 52 UK companies in Q3 compared with £2.1bn in 91 British companies in Q2 2010.

High Point In UK Overseas Acquisition Expenditure

UK companies' expenditure on acquisitions abroad reached their highest point since the first quarter of 2009 in the second quarter of 2010 according to the latest statistical bulletin from the ONS. The figure of £1.4bn is still well below earlier levels. Acquisitions in the UK by foreign companies fell to the lowest level since the second quarter of 2009 from £14.8bn to £2.3bn. Acquisitions of UK companies by UK companies in the UK increased from £1.3bn in Q1 to £1.9bn in Q2 2010.

There were 22 overseas acquisitions with values of over £1m by UK companies. There were 7 disposals of overseas companies for a total of £2.3bn in Q2 2010. Acquisitions of UK companies with values over £1m by foreign companies totalled 30. There were 10 disposals of UK companies by foreign companies with a total value of £1.3bn. In the UK, there were 66 acquisitions of companies with values over £1m by UK companies. They included 47 acquisitions of independent companies and 19 transactions involving subsidiaries.

Lowest Spend On M&A Since 1987

British companies spent £0.2bn on 10 acquisitions abroad in the first quarter of 2010 according to the ONS, £1bn less than the last quarter of 2009. It is the lowest value since records began in 1987. Expenditure on UK companies by UK companies was £1bn, £1.4bn less than Q4 2009. There were a total of 52 acquisitions. Foreign companies spent £14.3bn on 41 acquisitions in the UK during the quarter.

The 10 overseas acquisitions by British companies are included as they have values over £1m. The ONS used to use a threshold of £0.1m until recently and therefore there will be a discontinuity in the statistics. The 4 disposals of companies abroad by UK companies totalled £2.3bn and included the disposal of Rio Tinto Plc of Alcan Packaging Businesses for -£1.2bn and Rio Tinto Plc of Alcan Packaging Food American Division for -£0.8bn. Xstrata Plc disposed of El Morro SCM for -£3bn. The largest transaction in the UK by foreign companies was the acquisition of Cadbury Plc by Kraft Foods Inc of the US. One significant transaction in the UK by a British company was the acquisition of Standard Life Bank Plc by Barclays Plc for £0.2bn.

Low Level Of M&A Activity Involving UK Companies

Foreign companies spent less on acquisitions in the UK in Q2 2009 in the lowest number of transactions since Q2 1987. There were 14 such transactions compared with 25 in Q1 2009. The fall from £12.3bn to £0.4bn is also the lowest since Q2 1987. UK companies also spent less on acquisitions abroad with expenditure decreasing from £3.7bn in 17 transactions in Q1 to £2.4bn in Q2 2009 in 25 transactions. UK to UK acquisition transactions decreased from 88 to 41 with a value of £0.7bn in Q2 2009 the lowest since Q3 1992. Included in these latest statistics from the ONS are the acquisition of a controlling stake in the Vodacom Group by Vodaphone Group for £1.6bn and the disposal of Cadbury by Schweppes Australia for a reported -£0.6bn. UK to UK transactions included the acquisition of Aricom Plc by Peter Hambro Mining Plc.