Figure 11 shows R&D expenditure as a proportion of sales for three categories of firm in the UK850
On average, foreign owned firms spent a higher proportion of the value of their sales on R&D (2.6%) than either listed or unlisted companies.
Figure 11: R&D expenditure as a proportion of sales by ownership of firms in the UK850
It is also relevant to compare R&D as a proportion of sales for companies of a similar size from the G1400 which are owned in the US, UK and other parts of the EU. Broadly speaking the pattern is similar to the previous Scoreboard: proportionately more US companies spent over 10% of the value of their sales on R&D than their counterparts and more UK-owned companies with the lowest ratio of R&D investment to sales. What has changed since last year is that there are proportionately more UK firms, as compared with the US, that spent over 20% of the value of their sales on R&D. This shows that UK companies are continuing to operate in sectors characterised by high R&D intensity. At the other end of the scale, there are proportionately fewer UK firms that spent between 2-4% of the value of their sales on R&D whereas, compared last year, there are proportionately more US firms that spent over between 2-4% of the value of their sales on R&D. The US continues to have a more consistent pattern whilst the UK appears to have a bimodal pattern, with the peaks at either end.
Table 8 lists the listed companies with the highest ratio of investment in R&D to sales in 2007. Companies from the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology sector dominate. However, Solexa – a healthcare equipment and services firm – came top of the list with a ratio of 1768%.
Table 8: Companies with the highest ratio of R&D expenditure to sales (2007)
* - foreign owned firm
# - accounts not prepared using IFRS
