Business succession in Wales

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

39,981 companies in Wales — 37.6% — have a director aged 60 or over.

5.1 points above the UK average of 32.5%.

Companies measured106,471

Director aged 60+39,981

Exposure rate37.6%

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

106,471

Companies measured

39,981

With a director 60+

37.6%

Exposure rate

15,197

With a director 70+

Of the 39,981 with a director over 60, 2,710 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 Wales

Trade	Companies	60+	Rate
Lettings	5,918	2,320	39.2%
Consultancy Services	5,017	2,043	40.7%
Retail	5,916	1,764	29.8%
Other Leisure	3,806	1,400	36.8%
Agriculture	2,178	1,194	54.8%
Investment	3,496	1,120	32%
Hotel / Accommodation	1,952	985	50.5%
Investment / Fund Management	2,412	961	39.8%
Engineering Services	2,360	928	39.3%
Property Development	2,110	919	43.6%
General Construction	2,360	865	36.7%
IT Services / Consultancy	2,545	673	26.4%
Management	1,585	664	41.9%
Media	2,052	661	32.2%
Other Specialist Trades	2,049	658	32.1%
Specialist Clinics / Allied Health	2,256	643	28.5%
Restaurant / Cafe	2,861	610	21.3%
Accounting / Audit	1,440	582	40.4%
Energy	1,030	472	45.8%
Vehicle Repair & MOT	1,366	452	33.1%
Pub / Bar	1,102	414	37.6%
Vocational & Professional Training	953	404	42.4%
Care Home / Nursing	886	390	44%
Civil Engineering	1,035	370	35.7%
Road Freight	940	327	34.8%
Motor Vehicle Dealers	860	306	35.6%
Electrical Installation	1,451	306	21.1%
Financial Advisory / Wealth	853	302	35.4%
Education / Training (General)	841	299	35.6%
Software / SaaS	1,088	299	27.5%
Architecture / Design	1,005	287	28.6%
Plumbing, Heating & HVAC	1,242	264	21.3%
Passenger Transport	617	253	41%
Fitness / Sports	875	245	28%
Wholesale Agent	594	244	41.1%
Commercial Cleaning	951	217	22.8%
Legal Services	497	211	42.5%
Estate Agent	561	208	37.1%
Medical Practice / GP Surgery	705	201	28.5%
Recruitment / Staffing	788	186	23.6%
Catering / Events	780	185	23.7%
Precision Engineering / Machining	356	181	50.8%
Marketing	855	180	21.1%
Landscaping & Grounds Maintenance	596	177	29.7%
Arts / Entertainment	478	171	35.8%
Waste Management & Recycling	395	171	43.3%
Beauty / Salon / Spa	1,266	170	13.4%
Electronics / Electrical	298	169	56.7%
Equipment & Plant Hire	422	168	39.8%
Specialised Wholesale (Building Materials, Chemicals, Fuel, Metals)	320	162	50.6%
Dental Practice	729	159	21.8%
Joinery & Carpentry	715	156	21.8%
Metal Fabrication / Structures	326	154	47.2%
Food, Beverage & Tobacco Wholesale	364	153	42%
Data / Cloud / Hosting	498	152	30.5%
Roofing	446	142	31.8%
Non-Specialised Wholesale	318	132	41.5%
Tutoring & Educational Support	373	128	34.3%
Travel / Tourism	343	126	36.7%
Motor Parts	312	125	40.1%
Telecommunications	328	124	37.8%
Household Goods Wholesale	344	124	36%
Security Services	456	123	27%
Home Care / Domiciliary	255	110	43.1%
Freight Forwarding & Support	276	103	37.3%
Wood & Timber Products	272	101	37.1%
Painting & Decorating	256	81	31.6%
Childcare / Day Nurseries	274	77	28.1%
Flooring & Tiling	250	56	22.4%

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 Wales", UK Business Succession Index, 13 August 2026. https://www.exitradar.co.uk/succession/wales/

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.