In 2024, there were approximately 870,040 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the construction sector in the United Kingdom, the most of any sector in that year. The sector with the second-highest number of SMEs was the Professional, Scientific and Technical activities sector, at 754,520 SMEs.

In 2024, approximately 77 percent of SMEs in the UK made a profit, with SMEs in the construction sector being the most likely to have made a profit in that year, at 83 percent each. By contrast, just 67 percent of hotel and restaurant SMEs made a profit in 2024.

Numbers of enterprises and local units produced from a snapshot of the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) taken on 8 March 2024.

In 2024, approximately 29 percent of SMEs in the UK reported that they had achieved growth in the previous 12 months, with SMEs in the retail sector, and hotels and restaurant sector the most likely to report annual growth, at 32 percent of SMEs.

In 2024, there were approximately 5.49 million small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the United Kingdom. Micro-sized enterprises that employ up to nine people constitute the majority of SMEs in the UK, at over 5.23 million. Enterprises that have between 10 and 49 employees are classed as small enterprises, and numbered around 219,900 in the UK, while there were 37,750 medium-sized enterprises.

In 2024, SME's in the UK collectively employed 16.64 million people. In this year, micro-sized enterprises that had an employee headcount of nine or fewer employed around 8.64 million people in the United Kingdom, with small businesses employing around 4.32 million people, and medium-sized ones 3.68 million.

in 2021, 6.1% of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with employees and 4.9% of SMEs without employees were 'majority led' by people from an ethnic minority

The median profit made by SMEs in the UK in 2024 was approximately 13,000 British pounds, with SMEs in property / business services, and construction sectors having the highest average profit, at 14,000 pounds.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

In January 2004, a consortium of public and private sector organisations commissioned Warwick Business School to carry out the United Kingdom Survey of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises' (SME) Finances, 2004. This was the first representative survey of SMEs to offer a close analysis of businesses with fewer than 250 employees, their main owners and their access to external finance. A second survey was conducted in 2008, where business owners were interviewed by telephone about the finances they have used or applied for in the last three years, their financial relationships, the characteristics of the business and personal details.

In 2007, another consortium of UK public sector bodies, small business representative organisations and finance providers agreed to sponsor a similar survey to the 2004 survey, conducted by the Centre for Business Research based at the University of Cambridge. This study is held at the UKDA under SN 6049, with the title United Kingdom Survey of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises' Finances, 2007. It aimed to compile another benchmark and to identify any changes or trends that had emerged since 2004, but made a number of changes to the 2004 questionnaire, so that it is not a direct member of the UKSMEF series, but stands alongside it as a separate cross-sectional survey. The UKSMEF 2008 survey was conducted by the same Principal Investigator as the 2004 survey, based at Warwick Business School, and the 2008 report provides direct comparison between the 2004 and 2008 surveys.

The aims of the 2004 study were to provide benchmarking data on the availability of credit to SMEs, collect information on the relationship between SMEs and their providers of finance, and to develop a general-purpose micro database for quantitative research on business finances (offering, for example, scope for comparison with United States business finance).


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Topics covered in the survey included personal characteristics of the owner/manager, firm demographics, providers of finance, relationship with main bank, use of grant finance, commercial loans, assets and asset-based finance, credit cards and equity finance, use of business advice, main business problems and financial qualifications, income and balance sheet information. Special questions were also included for 'start-up' businesses less than two years old.

This statistic displays the share of small and medium enterprises (SME) expecting access to external finance to be a major obstacle to running the business in the next 12 months in the United Kingdom (UK) as of 2nd quarter 2014 to 2019, by sector. In 2014, it was found that the manufacturing sector had the highest proportion of SMEs with this expectation at 12 percent, by 2019 this share had decreased to 5 percent.

Data underlying the report of a study that assesses and quantifes the impacts of the financial crisis and subsequent global economic recession on the growth and performance of UK SME employers. Analyses existing data from two previous survey sources on SME employers in the pre-recession and recessionary periods. Covers how the problems in the banking sector have affected the supply of finance to the SME sector, and whether this has depressed business performance and investment. Looks at the impact of the recession has been more serious for particular types of entrepreneurs and businesses.

This statistic illustrates the quarterly value of new bank loans, including overdraft approvals to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the United Kingdom (UK) during the fourth quarter of 2018, by sector. An enterprise is classed as an SME based on their staff headcount, and their turnover or balance sheet total. Small enterprises have less than 50 employees and less than ten million euros in turnover or balance sheet total, whereas medium-sized enterprises have less than 250 employees, less than 50 million euros in turnover, or less than 43 million euros in their balance sheet total.

SMEs often rely on external financing such as loans and overdrafts. In the fourth quarter of 2018, the real estate, professional services and support sector had approximately 1.8 billion British pounds worth of new loans approved. It was was also the sector with highest volume of loans approved. More in-depth information could be found in the Statista dossier on small and medium enterprise financing in the UK.

This statistic shows the distribution of small and medium enterprises (SME) in the logistics sector in the United Kingdom (UK) from the years ending June 2014 to June 2019 by financial risk rating. In June 2014, it was found that 55 percent of logistics sector SMEs were rated as having worse than average financial risk, by 2019 this number had decreased to 53 percent.

The UK Cloud Computing Market report segments the industry into By Type (Public Cloud, Private Cloud, Hybrid Cloud), Organization Size (SMEs, Large Enterprises), End-user Industries (Manufacturing, Education, Retail, Transportation and Logistics, Healthcare, BFSI, Telecom and IT, Government and Public Sector, and more). Get five years of historical data alongside five-year market forecasts.

This statistic illustrates the quarterly number of new bank loans, including overdraft approvals to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the United Kingdom (UK) during the fourth quarter 2018, by sector. An enterprise is categorized as an SMEs based on their staff headcount, and their turnover or balance sheet total. Small enterprises have less than 50 employees and less than ten million euros in turnover or balance sheet total, whereas medium-sized enterprises have less than 250 employees, less than 50 million euros in turnover, or less than 43 million euros in their balance sheet total.

SMEs often rely on external financing such as loans and overdrafts. The real estate, professional services and support sector had approximately 14.3 thousand loans approved in the fourth quarter of 2018. It was also the sector with highest value of loans approved. More in-depth information could be found in the Statista dossier on small and medium enterprises financing in the UK.

Brokers benefit in these times as the higher the business's net profit, the higher the valuation, meaning the higher commission earned. However, uncertainty-inducing events like Brexit, COVID-19 and high inflation have severely dented business confidence leading to a dip in business transactions. As a result, industry revenue is estimated to fall at a compound annual rate of 5% to £268.1 million over the five years through 2024-25. The COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses to shift away from expansion and towards cost-cutting and restructuring, limiting the need for brokers. The high-inflation landscape in 2022 and 2023 led to the Bank of England raising the base rate to its highest since the global financial crisis. High-interest rates weigh on buyers' purchasing power, constraining brokers' commissions. Although larger brokers like Christie Group were able to maintain revenue growth by raising fees in 2022-23, having less exposure to price competition thanks to their established brand image, smaller players saw their revenue drop in line with M&A activity. With a renewed decline in M&A activity during 2023-24 amid rising interest rates and inflation, even Christie Group cited a decrease in its transactional brokerage incomes. 2024-25 is set to mark a turnaround for the industry as business confidence recovers in anticipation of interest rate cuts and subsiding economic uncertainty, driving revenue growth of 3.1%. Over the five years through 2029-30, business brokers' revenue is estimated to grow at a compound annual rate of 5% to £342.3 million. SMEs are positioned for solid growth in the coming years as interest rates come down, alleviating cost of debt pressures, and economic growth picks up. This will lift revenue growth through greater M&A activity as they seek to expand. The critical change for business brokers will be the ability to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) powered tools and data analytics to raise productivity. AI and data analytics will boost the efficiency of the day-to-day tasks of brokers, like market research, valuations, matching buyers and sellers and due diligence. Brokers can become more client-focused and focus their time on strategic activities like deal negotiation, client engagement and relationship building.