Up to £464m has “moved through” more than 3,000 UK shell companies branded as beauty and convenience stores but apparently operating in the money-laundering and terrorist financing sectors, a new analysis sets out.

The companies – listed as hairdressers, barber shops and salons, on the one hand, or mini-marts and corner shops on the other – show “remarkably similar lifespans” of about six months despite their seemingly different purposes.