Scottish Government

The total number of private sector enterprises in Scotland has increased by 9,865 (3.3%) since March 2010 to 307,770 in March 2011.

Table 1: Number of private sector enterprises in Scotland by sizeband, 2010-2011

Source: Scottish Government, ONS (IDBR)

The 2,230 large enterprises operating in Scotland accounted for 63.5% of all turnover ¹. The following chart shows how the total number of enterprises, employment and turnover ¹ were split between small, medium and large enterprises in Scotland as at March 2011.

Chart 1: Share of enterprises, employment and turnover by size of enterprise, 2011

Source: Scottish Government, ONS (IDBR)

1 Turnover for financial intermediation enterprises is not available on a comparable basis and has therefore been excluded from this analysis.

Small (0-49 employees)

The total number of small private sector enterprises in Scotland has increased by 9,925 (3.4%) since March 2010 to 301,915 in March 2011. As of March 2011, small businesses represented 98.1% of all enterprises and accounted for 40.7% of employment and 24.5% of turnover.

Medium (50-249 employees)

The total number of medium private sector enterprises in Scotland has decreased by 30 (0.8%) since March 2010 to 3,625 in March 2011. As of March 2011, medium businesses represented 1.2% of all enterprises and accounted for 12.9% of employment and 12.1% of turnover.

Large (250+ employees)

The total number of large private sector enterprises in Scotland has decreased by 30 (1.3%) since March 2010 to 2,230 in March 2011. As of March 2011, large businesses represented 0.7% of all enterprises and accounted for 46.4% of employment and 63.5% of turnover.

As at March 2011, there were 305,540 SMEs (0-249 employees) in Scotland (up 3.3% from March 2010). SMEs represented 99.3% of all enterprises and accounted for 53.6% of employment and 36.5% of turnover.

As at March 2011, enterprises with employees accounted for almost a third of all private sector enterprises in Scotland (31.3%, or 96,350 enterprises). This represents a decrease of 2,160 (2.2%) since March 2010. Enterprises with employees accounted for 87.9% of private sector employment.

As at March 2011, businesses with no employees accounted for 68.7% of all private sector businesses in Scotland (211,420 enterprises), an increase of 12,025 (6.0%) since March 2010. Enterprises with employees accounted for 12.1% of private sector employment.

The largest increase in the number of enterprises took place within Education (up 5,135 enterprises, up 43.5%). Other large increases took place in Arts, entertainment and recreation (up 1,550 enterprises, up 11.4%), Other service activities (up 1,505 enterprises, up 7.4%) and Information and communication (up 1,070 enterprises, up 9.3%).

The largest decrease in the number of enterprises took place within Transportation (down 4.3%, down 935 enterprises) and Retail trade (down 2.7%, down 570 enterprises).

Chart 2 shows how the number of enterprises were split across industrial sectors and their corresponding shares of employment and turnover as at March 2011.

Chart 2: Enterprise ¹, employment and turnover ² shares by industrial sector (all enterprises), March 2011

¹ Excludes central and local government.

² Turnover of financial intermediation enterprises are excluded as this is not available on a comparable basis

The number of registered enterprises (those registered for VAT and/or PAYE) decreased by 0.9% to 152,030 in March 2011.

Table 2: Number of private registered enterprises in Scotland, 2000-2011

Source: Scottish Government, ONS (IDBR)

As at March 2011, companies made up 50.9% of registered enterprises, a slight increase from 49.2% in 2010. Sole proprietorships made up 27.5% of registered enterprises and partnerships comprised 16.6% in March 2011.

The number of public sector enterprises in Scotland was 245 as at March 2011. An increase of 19.5% (40 enterprises) since March 2010. This increase was caused by Colleges of Further Education being reclassified as Central Government entities from 13 October 2010.

Information available on the foreign ownership of firms operating in Scotland is only for enterprises registered for VAT and/or PAYE. The table below shows the enterprise and employment shares for firms which had an ultimate country of ownership outside of Scotland broken down by size of firm as at March 2011.

Table 2: Percentage of firms with ultimate ownership outside Scotland, 2011

Source: Scottish Government, ONS (IDBR)