Report points to 'record year' for business start-ups

19/03/2008

Last year saw an unprecedented rate of small business start-up in the UK, according to a report from Barclays.

The banking group has revealed that there were around 471,500 new businesses established around the country in 2007, which equates to 14 for every 1,000 people.

When Barclays first began collected data on start-ups in 1988, only 403,200 new businesses were launched and the average annual figure since then has been around 393,000.

During times of economic turbulence, many small firms turn to debtor finance and invoice discounting and Barclays anticipates that financial concerns will see fewer new businesses set up this year than last.

"We do not expect further start-up records in 2008, but we do expect the small business sector to be resilient," said John Davis, marketing director for Barclays Local Business.

A report from Lloyds TSB recently suggested that most British companies expect their own business to improve over the course of the next 12 months.