Franchise opportunities in the United Kingdom

Attractiveness of the United Kingdom for the development of franchise business

Economy shows a small but steady growth rate of 0.3-0.4%. The most prominent spheres of business and economy include finance and banking, information technology, oil and gas, construction, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, transportation and logistics, education.

Being a highly-developed country where urban dwellers make up the majority. The most densely populated area is the south-east of the country. The largest cities (with the population near to half a million) are London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and Sheffield.

Franchising is a dynamically developing branch of British economy. The annual turnover of the franchise industry in the UK is £15.1 billion. Opportunities are really vast as over 900 franchisor brands and over 44,000 franchisee outlets are currently operating on the territory of the country. Another interesting fact is that 97% of these franchising units are profitable.

The franchising sector of the UK continues to mature and it now employs over 621,000 people and more than half of the businesses claim the annual turnover of more than £250,000.

The most popular business areas for franchising in the UK include food and drinks, home improvement, consulting, services. As the franchising market is well developed, franchise opportunities range from those requiring less than £15,000 of investments to those, which need over £75,000 to launch.