Who owns UK companies in specialised design activities?

9,906 of the 52,675 companies registered under SIC 74100 (specialised design activities) filed a list of shareholders with their most recent confirmation statement. Between them, those lists name 21,591 individual shareholders and 2,920 companies, trusts and other entities.

In this industry:

• 3.5% have six or more shareholders, compared with 9.6% of all UK companies — less than half the national rate.
• 13% are majority-owned by another company (among companies with one class of shares), compared with 22% of all UK companies.
• 21% have at least one company among their shareholders, compared with 33% of all UK companies.

How companies in this industry are owned

* Among the 3,496 companies in this industry that have a single class of shares and state the number of shares allotted, where a holding's share of the company can be read directly from the filing. A dash means fewer than 30 companies, too few to report.

Company size and age

The median company in this industry was incorporated 7.5 years ago (all UK companies: 8.5 years).

Related industries

• Other professional, scientific and technical activities n.e.c. SIC 74909 · 19,732 companies · 21% majority-owned by a company
• Non-trading company SIC 74990 · 10,723 companies · 44% majority-owned by a company
• Environmental consulting activities SIC 74901 · 3,381 companies · 19% majority-owned by a company
• Quantity surveying activities SIC 74902 · 2,097 companies · 15% majority-owned by a company
• Other specialist photography SIC 74202 · 1,385 companies · 8.2% majority-owned by a company
• Photographic activities not elsewhere classified SIC 74209 · 1,362 companies · 12% majority-owned by a company
• Translation and interpretation activities SIC 74300 · 774 companies · 12% majority-owned by a company
• Portrait photographic activities SIC 74201 · 625 companies · 7.9% majority-owned by a company

Corporate shareholders in this industry

The 1,000 companies and other entities holding shares in the most companies under SIC 74100, out of 2,861 named as shareholders on those companies' latest confirmation statements. 151 of them hold shares in more than one company in this industry. Trusts and individuals are not named.

About this data

Figures come from the shareholder lists in each company's most recent Companies House confirmation statement (form CS01) that contained one, filed between 3 November 2020 and 12 June 2026. They are as filed and are not restated for later share transfers. Shares held in treasury are excluded. Shareholders are classed as individuals, companies, non-UK entities, trusts or nominees from the names as filed.

Every company's own shareholder register, officers, filings and accounts are available through the OpenRegistry API and MCP server, live from Companies House.