Business succession in Northern Ireland

Name: Business succession in Northern Ireland
Creator: ExitRadar
License: https://www.exitradar.co.uk/terms

20,979 companies in Northern Ireland — 35.8% — have a director aged 60 or over.

3.3 points above the UK average of 32.5%.

Companies measured58,566

Director aged 60+20,979

Exposure rate35.8%

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

58,566

Companies measured

20,979

With a director 60+

35.8%

Exposure rate

8,502

With a director 70+

Of the 20,979 with a director over 60, 1,718 score 50 or higher on business quality — an output of our own scoring model, not a Companies House figure. How we score it.

By trade in Northern Ireland

Trade	Companies	60+	Rate
Lettings	2,881	1,262	43.8%
Retail	3,911	1,010	25.8%
Investment	2,152	939	43.6%
Consultancy Services	2,318	844	36.4%
General Construction	1,963	789	40.2%
Agriculture	1,641	758	46.2%
Other Leisure	1,932	705	36.5%
Property Development	1,518	703	46.3%
Investment / Fund Management	1,698	656	38.6%
Engineering Services	1,224	379	31%
Energy	927	378	40.8%
Management	839	373	44.5%
Specialist Clinics / Allied Health	1,112	314	28.2%
Other Specialist Trades	1,033	275	26.6%
Restaurant / Cafe	1,648	272	16.5%
Hotel / Accommodation	519	263	50.7%
IT Services / Consultancy	1,130	246	21.8%
Media	978	244	24.9%
Accounting / Audit	661	242	36.6%
Road Freight	800	233	29.1%
Wholesale Agent	663	211	31.8%
Pub / Bar	467	193	41.3%
Motor Vehicle Dealers	706	188	26.6%
Civil Engineering	634	180	28.4%
Care Home / Nursing	338	180	53.3%
Education / Training (General)	364	176	48.4%
Architecture / Design	586	157	26.8%
Software / SaaS	678	146	21.5%
Electrical Installation	797	141	17.7%
Vocational & Professional Training	313	132	42.2%
Financial Advisory / Wealth	352	128	36.4%
Vehicle Repair & MOT	473	125	26.4%
Household Goods Wholesale	304	118	38.8%
Specialised Wholesale (Building Materials, Chemicals, Fuel, Metals)	280	118	42.1%
Food, Beverage & Tobacco Wholesale	303	115	38%
Machinery & Equipment Wholesale	276	106	38.4%
Estate Agent	279	104	37.3%
Medical Practice / GP Surgery	365	102	27.9%
Catering / Events	391	101	25.8%
Legal Services	279	98	35.1%
Non-Specialised Wholesale	283	98	34.6%
Plumbing, Heating & HVAC	503	94	18.7%
Motor Parts	278	93	33.5%
Marketing	386	92	23.8%
Fitness / Sports	439	86	19.6%
Joinery & Carpentry	481	84	17.5%
Commercial Cleaning	320	83	25.9%
Equipment & Plant Hire	291	80	27.5%
Beauty / Salon / Spa	517	60	11.6%
Recruitment / Staffing	327	59	18%
Dental Practice	277	55	19.9%

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

Compare with the national index or another region.

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, "Business succession in Northern Ireland", UK Business Succession Index, 13 August 2026. https://www.exitradar.co.uk/succession/northern-ireland/

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.