John D Blackburn
This study looks at all companies registered in Yorkshire and Humberside and where their total assets are more than £3,000,000.The region has a population of 5.5 million in 2017 with the UK being 66 million. There are seven cities in the region: Bradford, Hull, Leeds, Ripon, Sheffield, Wakefield and York; the largest towns being Barnsley, Doncaster, Grimsby, Halifax, Harrogate, Huddersfield and Scunthorpe.The aim of this study is to provide an overview of the key movers and shakers in the Yorkshire and Humberside corporate sector. Only key data has been isolated, particularly the company’s net worth and total assets, but also its full name, date incorporated, registered office, activities, shareholders, directors (with date of birth, occupation and nationality) and number of employees.Two indicators of size are used: net worth and total assets. These are preferable to turnover which is influenced by profit margins and whether the companies are capital or labour intensive.A short summary of the corporate sector in Yorkshire and Humberside:The region did rely on large-scale heavy industry, manufacturing, textiles and agriculture but is now moving to more diverse markets. Manufacturing currently accounts for just under a fifth of the region’s economy. It has a higher percentage of companies in distribution, hospitality, manufacturing and public administration than in other regions whilst there is a smaller proportion in banking, finance and insurance. It is strong in food and drink, basic metals and metal products sectors. It also performs well in medicinal and pharmaceutical products, organic chemicals and general industrial machinery, which are the region’s top three exporting sectors.There were 419,000 businesses in 2017 (UK 5,695,000). The number of new businesses in 2017 were 22,600 (up 11% on 2016) and the number that ceased trading were 23,935 (up 12% on 2016). Manufacturing jobs in 2018 was 9.9% of all jobs and public sector jobs was 17.7%.Total regional output (GVA) in 2017 was £112 billion (UK £1,748 billion) and total output (GVA) per head was £20,678 (UK £26,621).Cumulative economic growth from 2010 to 2016 was 12% in UK whereas the weakest growth was this region at 7% with the North East at 4%. Between 1998 and 2016, slowest total growth over this 18-year period was this region (29%), the North East and the WestMidlands (both 30%); London in comparison was 71%.The unemployment rate May-July 2018 was 4.4%.The region’s investment in R&D is one of the lowest in the UK at 1.14% of GDP against UK average of 1.67%.
