The first 100+ CompanyIQ analyses. Here is what the data shows.

When we built CompanyIQ, the question was simple. Take the data Companies House publishes about every UK business and turn it into something useful. A score, a summary, a set of signals. Something that takes the work of a due diligence analyst and condenses it into a few minutes.

We are now past our first 100 analyses. 121, to be precise. Companies of every shape: technology firms, retailers, consultancies, manufacturers, healthcare providers, recruiters. Companies that scored well and companies that did not. With that volume of data, patterns start to show.

Here is what we are seeing.

The headline number

The average CIQ Score across all 121 analyses is 54 out of 100. That puts the typical UK company we have looked at in the Fair band, sitting above Poor but below Good. Scores ranged from 22 at the low end to 82 at the high end, a spread of 60 points.

How the scores broke down

2 companies scored Excellent (80 or above), 27 scored Good (65 to 79), 48 scored Fair (50 to 64), 30 scored Poor (35 to 49), and 14 scored Critical (below 35).

Two-thirds of the companies we analysed sit in Fair or worse. The Excellent band remains genuinely scarce, with only 2 of 121 reaching it. This is not a list curated for poor performers. It is a cross-section of UK businesses, and the curve is wider than people often assume.

Filing compliance is the strongest dimension

Across the dataset, the dimension companies score highest on is filing compliance, with an average of 83% of available points. UK companies, on the whole, are good at filing on time. Confirmation statements get done. Accounts go in. The administrative discipline that Companies House requires is largely being met.

That tells you something about how UK incorporation works. The filing regime sets a baseline that most companies clear without much difficulty.

The substance scores lower

The other four dimensions paint a different picture. Director quality averaged 64%. Financial health came in at 46%. Market position at 44%. Risk assessment at 29%, the weakest dimension by a clear margin.

Filing well is not the same as being financially strong. A company can submit perfect accounts and still show a balance sheet under strain. The dimensions where judgement and substance matter more than discipline are the ones where the average pulls down.

The patterns underneath

47% of companies had at least one late filing in their history. Not currently overdue, but late at some point in the last five years. It is more common than the headline filing scores suggest.

31% of companies had at least one director with a red flag. Multiple resignations across other companies, very short tenure on prior boards, or links to dissolved entities. Most directors look clean. A material minority do not.

Average tenure for current directors sat at 6.9 years. That is healthy. UK SME boards, on the whole, are stable.

Growth and risk sit side by side

This is the finding that surprised us most. 88% of companies showed at least one positive growth signal in their filed data: asset growth, improving cash, an expanding debtor book, increased headcount. At the same time, 72% showed at least one high or critical risk signal.

63% of companies showed both at once. Growing and financially stretched simultaneously. On average, each company in the dataset carried 4 risk signals and 3 growth signals. The typical UK SME, looked at through filed data, looks like it is winning and like it might struggle, at the same time.

How sectors compare

Technology and IT services made up the largest single group, with 21 companies. Their average score was 54, in line with the overall dataset average. Retail averaged 62. Wholesale, business support services and telecoms all sat at 61 or 62. The weakest sectors were information services at 40, recruitment and HR at 46, and food and beverage service at 46.

The variation across sectors is meaningful but not extreme. Most fell between 45 and 62.

What 100 analyses has shown us

A few things have become clearer with volume. The first is that the average UK business looks more mixed than people expect. Most companies show signs of progress and signs of strain at the same time.

The second is that filing compliance, while a useful baseline, is only one part of the picture. A company can file every accounts return on time and still carry net liabilities, run losses, or show concerning director patterns. That is why the CIQ Score weighs filing alongside four other dimensions. Each one tells you something different, and the combination is more informative than any single signal.

The third is that the most useful insight in this data is rarely a single number. It is the combination: where the growth signals are, where the risk signals are, and whether the two are pointing in the same direction or pulling against each other. That is the question CompanyIQ is built to answer, and the more analyses we run, the more confident we are that it is the right question to be asking.

Here is to the next 100.