Precision Engineering / Machining: business succession in the UK

Name: Precision Engineering / Machining business succession in the UK
Creator: ExitRadar
License: https://www.exitradar.co.uk/terms

4,640 UK precision engineering / machining companies — 50.8% — have a director aged 60 or over.

18.3 points above the all-trades average of 32.5%.

Companies measured9,125

Director aged 60+4,640

Exposure rate50.8%

Companies House register·Measured base 3,475,770·Data as at 13 August 2026·Full methodology

9,125

Companies measured

4,640

With a director 60+

1,840

With a director 70+

50.8%

Exposure rate

Of the 4,640 with a director over 60, 512 score 50 or higher on business quality — an output of our own scoring model, not a Companies House figure. How we score it.

Precision Engineering / Machining by region

Region	Companies	60+	Rate
West Midlands	1,684	944	56.1%
South West	767	410	53.5%
South East	1,007	529	52.5%
North West	1,028	536	52.1%
East Midlands	722	372	51.5%
Wales	356	181	50.8%
East of England	854	421	49.3%
Yorkshire & The Humber	1,034	502	48.5%
North East	284	135	47.5%
London	733	332	45.3%
Scotland	479	217	45.3%

Combinations with fewer than 250 measured companies are not listed separately. They are still counted in every total on this page.

Next step

This page counts director ages across the whole register. If you are looking to buy rather than to research, our Manufacturing pages go further: we score each company on business quality and exit timing, and shortlist the ones worth approaching.

See UK Manufacturing →

Part of the UK Business Succession Index.

Cite this page

These figures are free to quote and reproduce, including in commercial work, with attribution to ExitRadar and a link to this page.

ExitRadar, "Precision Engineering / Machining: business succession in the UK", UK Business Succession Index, 13 August 2026. https://www.exitradar.co.uk/succession/mfg-precision/

Need a cut that is not published here — a different trade grouping, a finer geography, or the underlying distribution? Get in touch and we will usually provide it. Methodology.

Method. Figures cover the 3,475,770 active UK companies where Companies House records an age bracket for at least one serving director — 93.8% of the 3,706,712 companies on the active register. A company counts as succession-exposed when its oldest serving director is 60 or over — not the board average, which would hide a 70-year-old founder sitting alongside younger co-directors. The business-quality figure covers only the subset our model assesses — see the methodology for why that is far smaller than the number with filed accounts. Data as at 13 August 2026; updated quarterly, next update October 2026. Full methodology.