Welsh company formations rise

6.7% more businesses started up in Wales during the first six months of this year than compared to the same period last year. This was a slower rate of increase than in England where the number of company formations rose by 13.7% during the corresponding time period.

In Wales 2,031 new businesses started up in June 2010, 138 more than the previous month.

There are wide variations in the number of start-ups across the country. So far this year Scotland (+19.8%) London (+20.4%), North East (+16.1%) and Yorkshire (14.8%) have seen the seen strong year-to-date growth compared to the corresponding period in 2009. Wales (+6.7%), the West Midlands (+6.7%) and East Midlands (+10.1%) had the weakest growth.

Stephen Pegge, Chairman of the British Bankers Association Small Firms Advisory Panel said “the latest start up figures from BankSearch show good growth in the number of entrepreneurs starting their own business so far this year in Wales though the growth rate lags Scotland’s rate and that of some of the English regions. There is clearly more potential and it is notable that older entrepreneurs may not be realising their ambitions. There is good support for aspiring over 50 entrepreneurs available in Wales through the charity PRIME Cymru”.