All formation reports

    57,448 new UK companies in August, and 20 of them were PLCs

    Counted on 14 September 2026

    57,448 companies were incorporated in the UK in August 2026, an average of 2,872 per working day across 20 working days.

    August produced 57,448 new companies at Companies House, an average of 2,872 for every working day across the month's 20 working days.

    More than a third of them gave a London registered address: 20,935 in all. Retail was the largest sector at 9,448 registrations, ahead of tech and software on 6,187.

    The striking figure is how little variety there is in what people actually form. 96.9 per cent of August's companies were plain private limited companies. Twenty were public limited companies, in the whole month, across the whole country.

    This is the first edition of this report, so there is no month-on-month comparison to draw yet. Each month is counted as it closes and then left alone, which is what will make the comparison worth reading when it arrives.

    By company type

    Company typeCompaniesShare
    Private limited (Ltd)55,64696.9%
    Limited by guarantee1,3552.4%
    Limited liability partnership2010.3%
    Limited partnership870.2%
    Registered overseas entity650.1%
    Limited by guarantee (name exemption)520.1%
    Private unlimited220%
    Public limited (PLC)200%

    Every company has exactly one company type. Shares are rounded to one decimal place, so the column can total slightly above or below 100%.

    By sector

    SectorCompanies
    Retail9,448
    Tech & Software6,187
    Real Estate5,833
    Creative & Media5,528
    Construction5,325
    Professional Services5,266
    Restaurants & Cafes3,926
    Health & Beauty3,891
    Wholesale & Distribution3,042
    Finance & Insurance2,606
    Transport & Logistics2,555
    Education & Training2,219
    Manufacturing2,060
    Automotive1,554
    Hospitality & Accommodation1,464
    Cleaning Services1,142
    Sports & Fitness1,094
    Recruitment653
    Security333
    Agriculture & Farming257

    No share column: a company registering under several SIC codes appears under every sector that matches, so these counts deliberately do not sum to 57,448.

    By region

    RegionCompanies
    London20,935
    South East England11,206
    North West England9,645
    Yorkshire & The Humber8,989
    West Midlands8,539
    Sheffield6,058
    Birmingham5,971
    Scotland4,014
    East of England3,982
    East Midlands3,152
    Liverpool3,066
    Manchester2,890
    South West England2,742
    Glasgow1,764
    Wales1,563
    North East England1,427
    Leicester836
    Edinburgh742
    Belfast733
    Northern Ireland733
    Coventry722
    Nottingham640
    Newcastle637
    Leeds620
    Cardiff614
    Bristol557
    Reading516
    Brighton516
    Milton Keynes464
    Oxford398
    Southampton379
    Norwich363
    Cambridge303
    Exeter252
    Aberdeen241
    Plymouth208

    No share column: regions and the cities within them overlap (a Reading company counts under both "South East England" and "Reading"), so these counts deliberately do not sum to 57,448.

    A few of them

    Retail

    Tech & Software

    Real Estate

    Creative & Media

    Construction

    Method

    Counted from the Companies House register via the official API, under the Open Government Licence. Figures are companies with an incorporation date in August 2026, counted on 14 September 2026.

    Companies dissolved since incorporation are not included, so this is a count taken at that date rather than a permanent total. We snapshot each month as it closes for exactly that reason: recomputing an old month later would return only the companies from it that are still on the register.