Business succession in South West

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

105,782 companies in South West (40.2%) have a director aged 60 or over.

7.8 points above the UK average of 32.4%.

Companies measured262,849

Director aged 60+105,782

Exposure rate40.2%

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

262,849

Companies measured

105,782

With a director 60+

40.2%

Exposure rate

42,810

With a director 70+

Of the 105,782 with a director over 60, 6,535 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 South West

Trade	Companies	60+	Rate
Consultancy Services	15,474	6,563	42.4%
Lettings	13,957	6,097	43.7%
Retail	13,304	4,219	31.7%
Other Leisure	8,492	3,052	35.9%
Agriculture	4,854	2,727	56.2%
Property Development	5,640	2,682	47.6%
Investment	7,025	2,624	37.4%
Investment / Fund Management	6,448	2,581	40%
IT Services / Consultancy	8,661	2,340	27%
Management	4,361	2,210	50.7%
General Construction	5,749	2,109	36.7%
Engineering Services	5,395	2,105	39%
Hotel / Accommodation	3,758	1,958	52.1%
Media	5,251	1,782	33.9%
Specialist Clinics / Allied Health	5,462	1,590	29.1%
Other Specialist Trades	4,688	1,577	33.6%
Accounting / Audit	3,422	1,452	42.4%
Restaurant / Cafe	5,609	1,285	22.9%
Vehicle Repair & MOT	3,183	1,001	31.4%
Energy	2,292	950	41.4%
Software / SaaS	3,468	939	27.1%
Architecture / Design	3,399	908	26.7%
Vocational & Professional Training	2,189	875	40%
Pub / Bar	2,108	833	39.5%
Education / Training (General)	1,906	780	40.9%
Financial Advisory / Wealth	1,975	768	38.9%
Care Home / Nursing	1,901	757	39.8%
Plumbing & Heating	2,953	708	24%
Electrical Installation	3,257	706	21.7%
Marketing	2,541	676	26.6%
Motor Vehicle Dealers	1,665	586	35.2%
Wholesale Agent	1,335	585	43.8%
Civil Engineering	1,538	576	37.5%
Commercial Cleaning	2,272	567	25%
Arts / Entertainment	1,423	555	39%
Passenger Transport	1,277	520	40.7%
Recruitment / Staffing	2,291	502	21.9%
Electronics / Electrical	898	499	55.6%
Fitness / Sports	1,754	496	28.3%
Estate Agent	1,515	496	32.7%
Catering / Events	1,897	493	26%
Road Freight	1,866	475	25.5%
Data / Cloud / Hosting	1,502	461	30.7%
Legal Services	1,043	455	43.6%
Landscaping & Grounds Maintenance	1,603	437	27.3%
Beauty / Salon / Spa	2,580	428	16.6%
Precision Engineering / Machining	771	410	53.2%
Non-Specialised Wholesale	827	391	47.3%
Joinery & Carpentry	1,774	375	21.1%
Food, Beverage & Tobacco Wholesale	811	347	42.8%
Medical Practice / GP Surgery	1,436	346	24.1%
Dental Practice	1,231	341	27.7%
Household Goods Wholesale	893	333	37.3%
Specialised Wholesale (Building Materials, Chemicals, Fuel, Metals)	617	325	52.7%
Tutoring & Educational Support	894	317	35.5%
Equipment & Plant Hire	754	311	41.2%
Roofing	1,098	306	27.9%
Home Care / Domiciliary	689	306	44.4%
Security Services	937	294	31.4%
Travel / Tourism	789	292	37%
Telecommunications	792	287	36.2%
Plastics & Rubber Products	445	262	58.9%
Metal Fabrication / Structures	537	256	47.7%
Freight Forwarding & Support	646	247	38.2%
Sports Clubs & Recreation	347	238	68.6%
Waste Management & Recycling	589	235	39.9%
Machinery & Equipment Wholesale	428	223	52.1%
Painting & Decorating	720	216	30%
Food & Beverage Manufacturing	532	215	40.4%
Facilities Management	410	212	51.7%
Flooring & Tiling	719	206	28.7%
Wood & Timber Products	537	206	38.4%
Motor Parts	519	203	39.1%
Bakery / Confectionery	517	191	36.9%
Chemicals & Coatings	355	187	52.7%
Scaffolding	538	175	32.5%
Insurance	323	169	52.3%
Print, Signage & Graphics	368	168	45.7%
Childcare / Day Nurseries	481	165	34.3%
Glazing & Windows	442	164	37.1%
Veterinary Practice	598	158	26.4%
Brewery / Drinks Manufacturing	326	144	44.2%
Warehousing & Storage	334	143	42.8%
Early Years / Pre-Primary	357	135	37.8%
Events	402	121	30.1%
Demolition & Site Prep	374	120	32.1%
Masonry & Stonework	354	79	22.3%
Plastering & Drylining	498	79	15.9%
Postal & Courier	364	69	19%

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 South West", UK Business Succession Index, 11 October 2026. https://www.exitradar.co.uk/succession/south-west/

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.