The ONS has released the Annual Business Survey: UK non-financial business economy foreign owned business. In this yearâs release it was shown that in 2015 there were more than 2 million registered non-financial businesses in the UK. of these companies, 1.1% or around 24,141 were owned by businesses found outside of the UK.
Turnerlittle.com have analysed the information in the ONS report and wanted to explore what percentage overall of the UKâs 10 largest non-financial industries are foreign owned in comparison to UK owned businesses. The research has shown that the manufacturing industry has the highest level of foreign owned business at 2.9%. This percentage of foreign owned businesses equates to 3,704 companies that arenât UK owned.
The Manufacturing sector is closely followed by the wholesale and retail trade, where 1.8% or 6,192 of the businesses are owned by businesses outside of the UK. Following this is the information and communication sector, at 1.5% or 2,848 businesses.
These appear to be relatively small proportions, however, combined these non-financial foreign-owned industries have contributed a whopping £326.5 billion to the UK economy through approximate gross value added, or aGVA. This measure shows the net value of goods and services produced by a company.
It is thought that since 2008, the aGVA of foreign owned businesses has increased by 32.1%, from £247.1 billion. In comparison, the number of UK-owned businesses has increased over the same period by 23.9%. According to the research, the region that has seen the largest proportion of foreign-owned businesses in 2015 was London. This region saw an increase of 19.6%, and contributed to the highest proportion of foreign-owned aGVA, forming 25.6% of the total increase.
It is thought that after Brexit, the number of foreign-owned businesses will be reduced. However, it is important to add that British-owned business is also performing well.
