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SMEs - part 1

figure 25 UK aerospace industry by company size 2005

- Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) saw total sales fall by 28 per cent to £332m.

- The UKAI is characterised by a significant proportion of SMEs, 46 per cent of all companies surveyed by the SBAC were SMEs. However, estimates suggest that there may be up to 2,500 aerospace SMEs in the UK, of which only a small percentage were picked up in this survey.

- An SME is defined as a company having less than 250 employees, less than £30m turnover and less than 25 per cent external ownership (in terms of voting rights). SBAC only uses the employment criterion here. Of the companies surveyed by the SBAC, 49 per cent were defined as SMEs by number of their employees.

figure 26 UK SME aerospace sales 1997 - 2005

- Since 1997 SMEs saw their sales increase significantly to a peak in 1999 at £652 million, followed by a sharp decline (49.1 per cent over 6 years), to today's £332 million.

- Defence sales have remained remarkably consistent averaging around £143 million per annum, with one exception in 2004.

figure 26 (17.5 KB)

figure 27 aerospace respondent company size 1999 & 2005

- This change in sales is reflected in the decrease in the number of respondents: in 1999, 70 per cent of respondents where SMEs whereas in 2005 this had fallen to 47 per cent.

figure 27 (17.5 KB)

• back to annual survey 2006 main page
• a message from the SBAC President
• sustainable aviation
• revenue - part 1
• revenue - part 2
• revenue - part 3
• orders
• financial
• research and development - part 1
• research and development - part 2
• employment - part 1
• employment - part 2
• SMEs - part 2
• international trade
• global trends
• aerospace cross holdings
• regional
• global trends
• notes and clarification