Business succession in Wales

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

37,608 companies in Wales (36.3%) have a director aged 60 or over.

3.9 points above the UK average of 32.4%.

Companies measured103,518

Director aged 60+37,608

Exposure rate36.3%

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

103,518

Companies measured

37,608

With a director 60+

36.3%

Exposure rate

14,249

With a director 70+

Of the 37,608 with a director over 60, 2,747 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 Wales

Trade	Companies	60+	Rate
Lettings	5,831	2,189	37.5%
Consultancy Services	4,828	1,911	39.6%
Retail	5,839	1,627	27.9%
Other Leisure	3,652	1,335	36.6%
Investment	3,352	1,044	31.1%
Agriculture	1,904	994	52.2%
Hotel / Accommodation	1,949	942	48.3%
Investment / Fund Management	2,392	931	38.9%
Engineering Services	2,359	909	38.5%
Property Development	2,019	857	42.4%
General Construction	2,290	811	35.4%
Other Specialist Trades	2,029	657	32.4%
Media	2,041	637	31.2%
IT Services / Consultancy	2,464	630	25.6%
Specialist Clinics / Allied Health	2,163	602	27.8%
Restaurant / Cafe	2,928	589	20.1%
Management	1,490	583	39.1%
Accounting / Audit	1,359	553	40.7%
Energy	1,003	478	47.7%
Vehicle Repair & MOT	1,356	426	31.4%
Care Home / Nursing	860	399	46.4%
Pub / Bar	1,067	399	37.4%
Vocational & Professional Training	954	396	41.5%
Civil Engineering	1,028	361	35.1%
Road Freight	940	310	33%
Electrical Installation	1,422	291	20.5%
Education / Training (General)	810	291	35.9%
Software / SaaS	1,074	286	26.6%
Motor Vehicle Dealers	838	284	33.9%
Financial Advisory / Wealth	825	271	32.8%
Architecture / Design	928	270	29.1%
Fitness / Sports	908	259	28.5%
Passenger Transport	634	249	39.3%
Plumbing & Heating	1,171	247	21.1%
Wholesale Agent	560	223	39.8%
Commercial Cleaning	941	209	22.2%
Medical Practice / GP Surgery	666	196	29.4%
Legal Services	470	194	41.3%
Arts / Entertainment	509	188	36.9%
Estate Agent	545	185	33.9%
Waste Management & Recycling	391	178	45.5%
Catering / Events	750	177	23.6%
Recruitment / Staffing	781	175	22.4%
Precision Engineering / Machining	344	171	49.7%
Electronics / Electrical	294	166	56.5%
Marketing	822	166	20.2%
Specialised Wholesale (Building Materials, Chemicals, Fuel, Metals)	319	164	51.4%
Data / Cloud / Hosting	513	161	31.4%
Equipment & Plant Hire	405	158	39%
Joinery & Carpentry	692	155	22.4%
Landscaping & Grounds Maintenance	573	152	26.5%
Metal Fabrication / Structures	322	151	46.9%
Beauty / Salon / Spa	1,285	150	11.7%
Dental Practice	717	146	20.4%
Non-Specialised Wholesale	331	137	41.4%
Roofing	445	135	30.3%
Food, Beverage & Tobacco Wholesale	335	133	39.7%
Household Goods Wholesale	353	125	35.4%
Security Services	458	124	27.1%
Tutoring & Educational Support	370	120	32.4%
Travel / Tourism	344	119	34.6%
Telecommunications	307	117	38.1%
Home Care / Domiciliary	254	109	42.9%
Freight Forwarding & Support	284	107	37.7%
Motor Parts	280	104	37.1%
Wood & Timber Products	266	93	35%
Childcare / Day Nurseries	274	77	28.1%
Painting & Decorating	252	74	29.4%
Scaffolding	259	70	27%
Flooring & Tiling	256	64	25%

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, 11 October 2026. https://www.exitradar.co.uk/succession/wales/

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.