Business succession in West Midlands

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

89,672 companies in West Midlands (31.3%) have a director aged 60 or over.

1.1 points below the UK average of 32.4%.

Companies measured286,550

Director aged 60+89,672

Exposure rate31.3%

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

286,550

Companies measured

89,672

With a director 60+

31.3%

Exposure rate

31,883

With a director 70+

Of the 89,672 with a director over 60, 5,771 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 West Midlands

Trade	Companies	60+	Rate
Consultancy Services	14,421	5,526	38.3%
Lettings	16,007	5,322	33.2%
Retail	18,450	3,864	20.9%
Investment	11,481	3,179	27.7%
Investment / Fund Management	7,704	2,936	38.1%
Other Leisure	8,395	2,555	30.4%
Property Development	5,026	2,177	43.3%
Engineering Services	5,430	2,000	36.8%
IT Services / Consultancy	8,485	1,814	21.4%
General Construction	5,302	1,607	30.3%
Agriculture	2,934	1,527	52%
Specialist Clinics / Allied Health	6,718	1,499	22.3%
Management	4,504	1,440	32%
Other Specialist Trades	4,921	1,417	28.8%
Accounting / Audit	3,770	1,272	33.7%
Media	3,623	1,032	28.5%
Restaurant / Cafe	6,492	993	15.3%
Precision Engineering / Machining	1,805	987	54.7%
Vehicle Repair & MOT	3,816	985	25.8%
Care Home / Nursing	3,433	936	27.3%
Hotel / Accommodation	2,206	926	42%
Road Freight	5,617	869	15.5%
Wholesale Agent	2,959	805	27.2%
Electrical Installation	3,366	740	22%
Pub / Bar	2,206	725	32.9%
Financial Advisory / Wealth	1,710	708	41.4%
Education / Training (General)	2,162	682	31.5%
Vocational & Professional Training	2,221	681	30.7%
Architecture / Design	2,451	680	27.7%
Software / SaaS	2,974	660	22.2%
Plumbing & Heating	2,827	636	22.5%
Medical Practice / GP Surgery	3,043	617	20.3%
Civil Engineering	1,789	609	34%
Energy	1,675	590	35.2%
Recruitment / Staffing	3,237	581	17.9%
Motor Vehicle Dealers	2,599	571	22%
Marketing	2,564	554	21.6%
Non-Specialised Wholesale	1,781	538	30.2%
Specialised Wholesale (Building Materials, Chemicals, Fuel, Metals)	1,133	507	44.7%
Household Goods Wholesale	1,667	492	29.5%
Metal Fabrication / Structures	1,026	482	47%
Commercial Cleaning	2,296	482	21%
Electronics / Electrical	1,147	476	41.5%
Catering / Events	2,230	439	19.7%
Beauty / Salon / Spa	3,349	428	12.8%
Legal Services	1,333	425	31.9%
Plastics & Rubber Products	756	399	52.8%
Estate Agent	1,639	391	23.9%
Fitness / Sports	1,551	388	25%
Passenger Transport	1,384	382	27.6%
Food, Beverage & Tobacco Wholesale	1,107	333	30.1%
Security Services	1,274	332	26.1%
Landscaping & Grounds Maintenance	1,271	331	26%
Motor Parts	1,188	329	27.7%
Data / Cloud / Hosting	1,311	327	24.9%
Waste Management & Recycling	822	326	39.7%
Machinery & Equipment Wholesale	659	324	49.2%
Arts / Entertainment	1,084	318	29.3%
Joinery & Carpentry	1,361	314	23.1%
Tutoring & Educational Support	1,291	314	24.3%
Home Care / Domiciliary	863	310	35.9%
Roofing	1,018	291	28.6%
Equipment & Plant Hire	777	291	37.5%
Telecommunications	1,008	289	28.7%
Chemicals & Coatings	698	275	39.4%
Travel / Tourism	854	245	28.7%
Freight Forwarding & Support	1,156	237	20.5%
Sports Clubs & Recreation	316	221	69.9%
Childcare / Day Nurseries	755	208	27.5%
Wood & Timber Products	558	204	36.6%
Machinery & Industrial Equipment	334	200	59.9%
Print, Signage & Graphics	424	197	46.5%
Flooring & Tiling	734	191	26%
Painting & Decorating	629	191	30.4%
Food & Beverage Manufacturing	516	177	34.3%
Glazing & Windows	564	174	30.9%
Dental Practice	1,185	174	14.7%
Facilities Management	464	172	37.1%
Insurance	321	165	51.4%
Pharmacy	563	132	23.4%
Early Years / Pre-Primary	445	132	29.7%
Events	374	131	35%
Warehousing & Storage	353	126	35.7%
Bakery / Confectionery	561	124	22.1%
Pharmaceuticals / Biotech	575	123	21.4%
Demolition & Site Prep	387	103	26.6%
Vehicle Hire / Rental	407	101	24.8%
Meat Processing / Butchery	268	93	34.7%
Veterinary Practice	317	88	27.8%
ICT Equipment Wholesale	381	88	23.1%
Scaffolding	329	86	26.1%
Postal & Courier	701	84	12%
Plastering & Drylining	440	79	18%
Driving Schools	256	56	21.9%
Masonry & Stonework	255	46	18%

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

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.