The Top 6000 Companies in South East England

This study looks at all companies registered in South East England and where their total assets are more than £20,000,000.

South East England (excluding London) is the most populous region with a population of 9.1 million in 2017 (UK 66 million).

The region comprises the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex. The main cities are Brighton, Canterbury, Chichester, Oxford, Portsmouth, Southampton and Winchester.

The aim of this study is to provide an overview of the key movers and shakers in South East England’s corporate sector. Only key data has been isolated, particularly the company’s net worth and total assets, but also its full name, date incorporated, registered office, activities, shareholders, directors (with date of birth, occupation and nationality) and number of employees.

Two indicators of size are used: net worth and total assets. These are preferable to turnover which is influenced by profit margins and whether the companies are capital or labour intensive.

A short summary of the corporate sector in South East England:

Total regional output (GVA), in 2016, was £259 billion (UK £1,748 billion) with total output (GVA) per head, in 2016, being £28,683 (UK being £26,621).

Employment level, May-July 2018, was 4,540,000 (UK 32,397,000) with an employment rate of 78.1% (UK 75.5%).

There were 431,000 manufacturing jobs in the South East and London in 2018, accounting for 4.0% of the region’s total workforce, the lowest of any region.

The South East and London accounted for just under a quarter (24.8%) of all UK manufactured exports in 2017, the largest of any region.

The South East and London is the most productive region in the UK with London’s productivity at 127.8% of the UK average and the South East’s at 104.3%.

London and the South East have considerably more businesses than any other region. At the start of 2018: London (1.1 million) and the South East (874,000) had the most private sector businesses, accounting for 35% of the UK business population.

In 2017, here were 299,000 manufacturing jobs in the region (6% of all jobs).

In 2017, there were 51,965 new businesses (up 12%) and 48,295 businesses ceased trading (up 11%).