SIC 72 Scientific research and development: UK company statistics (October 2026)
Part of section M: Professional, scientific and technical activities.
Key figures compared with the UK
| Measure | SIC 72 | All UK | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active companies | 11,790 | 5,166,057 | 0.2% of UK |
| Median company age (years) | 5.8 | 5.6 | close to UK |
| Incorporated in the last 3 years | 34.0% | 34.0% | close to UK |
| Filing micro-entity accounts | 27.7% | 32.4% | 4.7 pts lower |
| Filing dormant accounts | 13.9% | 10.8% | 3.1 pts higher |
| Accounts overdue | 2.6% | 1.8% | 0.8 pts higher |
| Under a proposal to strike off | 4.6% | 7.4% | 2.8 pts lower |
| In liquidation, administration or receivership | 1.8% | 2.0% | close to UK |
| With outstanding charges (secured lending) | 6.2% | 12.1% | 5.9 pts lower |
| Median net assets | £996 | £3,113 | 68% lower |
| Negative net assets | 23.0% | 18.8% | 4.2 pts higher |
| Net current liabilities | 32.3% | 36.2% | 3.9 pts lower |
| Median cash at bank | £20k | £10k | 93% higher |
| Cash covers creditors due within a year | 47.3% | 35.3% | 12.0 pts higher |
| Holding £100k or more in cash | 31.0% | 20.3% | 10.7 pts higher |
| Median employees (where stated) | 1 | 1 | close to UK |
Balance sheet measures use each active company's most recent machine-readable (iXBRL) accounts with a period ending in 2024 or later: 7,842 companies here (66.5% of active). Net assets 25th to 75th percentile: £0 to £58k. Cash 25th to 75th percentile: £483 to £174k.
Share with negative net assets, 2014 to 2025
Share of accounts with net liabilities (total liabilities larger than total assets) by financial year end, for companies on the live register. Dissolved companies are not included because the register no longer lists their industry, so earlier years show survivors. Negative net assets is a warning sign, not proof of insolvency: see what negative net assets means.
Accounts types filed
| Type of last accounts | Share here | Share UK |
|---|---|---|
| Micro-entity | 27.7% | 32.4% |
| Total exemption full | 23.5% | 23.8% |
| No accounts filed yet | 23.2% | 26.0% |
| Dormant | 13.9% | 10.8% |
| Small | 4.2% | 1.2% |
| Full (audited) | 3.2% | 1.5% |
| Unaudited abridged | 1.8% | 2.9% |
| Group | 1.5% | 0.5% |
The type shows how much a company has to disclose. Micro-entity and abridged accounts contain no profit and loss account on the public record. Read more about accounts categories and micro-entities.
Active companies by year of incorporation
Companies incorporated in each year that are still active today. Younger cohorts are larger partly because older ones have been dissolved.
Most common activity codes
| SIC | Activity | Live companies |
|---|---|---|
| 72190 | Other research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering | 6,027 |
| 72110 | Research and experimental development on biotechnology | 4,317 |
| 72200 | Research and experimental development on social sciences and humanities | 2,257 |
Methodology
Industry is the first SIC code each company declares on the Companies House register (snapshot 1 October 2026); the dormant placeholder 99999 is excluded. Status, accounts type and due dates come from the register. Financial measures come from our parse of 37 million iXBRL accounts filed since 2008; values above £100bn are treated as extraction errors. Companies filing paper or PDF accounts are not in the balance sheet figures. Full details: methodology.
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