Business succession in Northern Ireland

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

22,025 companies in Northern Ireland (36%) have a director aged 60 or over.

3.6 points above the UK average of 32.4%.

Companies measured61,211

Director aged 60+22,025

Exposure rate36%

Companies House register·Measured base 3,631,842·Data as at 11 October 2026·Full methodology

61,211

Companies measured

22,025

With a director 60+

36%

Exposure rate

8,943

With a director 70+

Of the 22,025 with a director over 60, 1,923 score 50 or higher on business quality. That figure is 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	3,056	1,347	44.1%
Retail	4,072	1,052	25.8%
Investment	2,210	970	43.9%
Consultancy Services	2,423	885	36.5%
General Construction	2,020	817	40.4%
Agriculture	1,691	789	46.7%
Investment / Fund Management	1,853	731	39.4%
Property Development	1,559	722	46.3%
Other Leisure	1,942	712	36.7%
Energy	992	411	41.4%
Engineering Services	1,259	386	30.7%
Management	869	384	44.2%
Specialist Clinics / Allied Health	1,178	340	28.9%
Other Specialist Trades	1,068	286	26.8%
Restaurant / Cafe	1,714	279	16.3%
Hotel / Accommodation	543	278	51.2%
Media	1,008	254	25.2%
IT Services / Consultancy	1,174	254	21.6%
Accounting / Audit	679	242	35.6%
Road Freight	824	238	28.9%
Wholesale Agent	693	216	31.2%
Pub / Bar	480	196	40.8%
Motor Vehicle Dealers	730	195	26.7%
Care Home / Nursing	348	188	54%
Education / Training (General)	385	188	48.8%
Civil Engineering	654	182	27.8%
Architecture / Design	600	162	27%
Software / SaaS	719	156	21.7%
Vocational & Professional Training	343	149	43.4%
Electrical Installation	822	141	17.2%
Financial Advisory / Wealth	376	140	37.2%
Vehicle Repair & MOT	499	130	26.1%
Specialised Wholesale (Building Materials, Chemicals, Fuel, Metals)	300	128	42.7%
Food, Beverage & Tobacco Wholesale	326	127	39%
Household Goods Wholesale	319	124	38.9%
Machinery & Equipment Wholesale	301	117	38.9%
Estate Agent	287	108	37.6%
Medical Practice / GP Surgery	377	104	27.6%
Catering / Events	403	104	25.8%
Non-Specialised Wholesale	299	103	34.4%
Legal Services	285	101	35.4%
Motor Parts	294	100	34%
Marketing	407	97	23.8%
Plumbing & Heating	497	94	18.9%
Fitness / Sports	484	94	19.4%
Joinery & Carpentry	494	85	17.2%
Commercial Cleaning	329	84	25.5%
Equipment & Plant Hire	302	82	27.2%
Beauty / Salon / Spa	549	64	11.7%
Dental Practice	291	59	20.3%
Recruitment / Staffing	345	59	17.1%

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, 11 October 2026. https://www.exitradar.co.uk/succession/northern-ireland/

Need a cut that is not published here, such as 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 3,631,842 active UK companies where Companies House records an age bracket for at least one serving director (94.0% of the 3,863,328 companies on the active register). A company counts as succession-exposed when its oldest serving director is 60 or over. We do not use 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 11 October 2026; updated quarterly, next update January 2027. Full methodology.