USP Data provides access to more than 1,000 researched Industry Sector Reports covering UK markets, niche industries and specialist business activities. These reports help users identify acquisition targets, analyse markets, build buyer lists and create highly targeted company populations for corporate finance, private equity, business development and M&A research.
Unlike standard SIC code classifications, USP Data’s Industry Sector Reports use researched market definitions and detailed sector intelligence to provide greater accuracy when identifying companies operating within specific industries and market segments.
Many company databases rely exclusively on SIC codes to identify businesses operating within a market. Whilst useful as a starting point, SIC codes were never designed for acquisition targeting, buyer identification or detailed market analysis.
Companies select their own SIC codes and frequently choose broad classifications that fail to reflect their true activities. Businesses also evolve over time without updating these classifications, creating further inaccuracies. Some SIC codes are themselves extremely broad and provide little practical value for acquisition research, such as “Other Wholesale Not Elsewhere Classified”.
For M&A professionals this creates two significant challenges:
• Relevant acquisition targets may be missed entirely.
• Irrelevant companies may be included within search results.
Both issues reduce the quality of acquisition target identification, buyer research, market mapping and sector analysis.
USP Data addresses these limitations by classifying companies according to their actual operations using industry association memberships, website analysis and ongoing sector research. This enables more meaningful comparisons between businesses operating within the same market and creates a more accurate foundation for acquisition research.
Crucially, these researched sector classifications can be combined with your own company lists, acquisition targets and market intelligence. Integrating USP Data’s sector intelligence helps improve the accuracy of acquisition searches, buyer identification projects, market mapping exercises and competitive landscape analysis.
The result is a more complete and accurate view of the market than can typically be achieved using SIC-code-based databases alone.
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