Reference:FOI-2024-1977
You asked
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act regarding the turnover of businesses in the United Kingdom.
Specifically, I am interested in the following:
The total number of businesses located in the UK, categorized according to their turnover levels. For example, I would like to know the number of businesses with a turnover equal to or exceeding $200 million.
Among these businesses meeting the $200 million turnover threshold, I request further distinction between:
- Those with a Global Ultimate Owner (GUO) having a turnover exceeding $1,000 million.
- Those with foreign shareholders, where foreign ownership constitutes a minimum of 51% direct participation or total participation for all foreign shareholders combined (of the same country).
We said
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request regarding the turnover of businesses in the United Kingdom.
The Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) holds all businesses registered for VAT and/or PAYE. We break down the number of businesses into turnover size bands in our publication – UK Business, Activity, Size and Location. The latest data available are for March 2023. We have a Data Service Team who create bespoke requests based on the publication and may be able to help with some of the information that you require. These requests may be chargeable depending on the time taken to create the analysis.
Regarding your first question, our Data Service Team would be able to provide the total number of businesses by turnover size bands.
Regarding, your second question, unfortunately, we do not hold data for the first part asking for Global Ultimate Owners with a turnover exceeding $1,000 million, however, we may be able to help with the second part of the question regarding foreign ownership but we would require further clarification.
If you would like to discuss the request further, please contact idbrdas@ons.gov.uk.