88% Micro
10% Small
1% Large
1% Mid
0% Mega
INSIGHTS - APRIL 2025
UK Design Industry
UK Design Industry Information
The other professional services industry includes specialised activities such as fashion, interior, graphic and industrial design, photography, translation and interpretation, environmantal consulting and surveying as well as miscellaneous consulting activities.
Active Businesses
134,440
Annual Sales
£124bn +
Employees
776,581
Economic Contribution
£84bn
Tags
Location of Design Companies
Design Companies by Size
Largest Design Companies
Turnover
Dazn Group Limited
£2.3bn
Amazon Online Uk Limited
£2.2bn
Minerva Equity Limited
£2.2bn
Minerva Bidco Limited
£2.2bn
Design Companies by Age
32% Established
30% Young
22% Startup
17% Mature
0% New
Oldest Design Companies
Established
Fastest Growing Design Companies
38% Declining
20% Healthy
17% Rapid
13% High
11% Low
Fastest Growing Design Companies
3yr CAGR
Design Industry Competitive Environment - New Entrants vs Leavers
Design Industry Valuation
EBITDA Multiple
Design Industry Valuation
Turnover Multiple
Design Industry Valuation
Net Asset Multiple
Note - from March 2020 multiples are calculated monthly, prior to this they were calculated on an annual basis.
UK Other professional, scientific and technical activities Industry Insights
There are 134,440 active Businesses in the UK with combined annual sales of £124 billion .
The Industry employs around 776,580 people and contributes £84 billion to the economy.
The most popular location for Design companies is London with 37,189 and the fewest are located in Northern Ireland with 1,552.
The largest Design company is Dazn Group Limited with a turnover of £2.3bn. 88% of the industry is comprised of Micro companies with only 1% Large companies.
17% of the Design Industry is made up of 17% Mature but the majority are Established businesses (32%) the oldest company is London And Suburban Land And Building Company Limited(the) founded in 1863.
Design industry has a number of high growth companies (13%), the fastest growing company is Human Capability Foundation with a 3 year growth rate of 162%. Other fast growing companies include Knowledge Transfer Network Limited (162%), Sum And Substance Ltd (157%) and Ardyne Technologies Limited (146%).
The UK Design Industry’s valuation has been improving over the past 3 years with a current EBITDA multiple of 8.86x, Turnover multiple of 1.12x and a Net Asset multiple of 1.95x.
