Booming Britain as record 31,294 firms set up shop

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BRITAIN is on track to see a record number of new companies being opened this year, according to figures on business start-ups.

A survey of key industries showed the net number of extra companies in Britain (companies opened minus the number closed) was 31,294 in the first three months of the year, according to an analysis of Companies House data by credit research company Creditsafe. The figure, which covers seven major sectors from finance to construction, is more than twice the number for the same period last year.

Net company start-ups were already running close to record levels in 2014 at more than 95,000, but the new firstquarter figures suggest that the trend is accelerating rapidly.

Rachel Mainwaring, operations director at Creditsafe, said: ‘We’re seeing a return of the UK’s entrepreneurial spirit following the dip in confidence after the recession. Our research shows that last year was a great year for start-ups across industries and with the first quarter of this year completed, 2015 is already looking like a bumper year.’

Jimmy McLoughlin, deputy director of policy at the Institute of Directors, said: ‘These statistics demonstrate that Britain’s start-up revolution is happening across all sectors, not just the stereotypical digital sector. The challenge for the next government is to see whether we can create the conditions that allow these start-ups to scale up to a much larger size.’

The retail, construction and financial and business sectors accounted for the bulk of the new firms, Creditsafe said. But the other four sectors – manufacturing, transport, agriculture, and mining and power – all saw growth in the number of active firms. Creditsafe said technology firms working within those sectors are likely to have given business numbers a boost.

The figures will be seen by supporters of the Coalition as evidence of an entrepreneurial boom, though some economists have argued some people might be starting firms as they cannot find work elsewhere.

The most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics, which were released in November and cover 2013, showed 108,000 net new companies that year – an all-time record that now looks likely to be broken.

ONS figures show that until that year, net company start-ups were typically between 30,000 and 40,000 a year and that there are about 2.5million active firms in Britain.

WITH just four days until the Election, Financial Mail rounds up the main promises for small firms... as a new poll shows the Conservatives leading the small business vote. THE Conservative Party is streets ahead of rivals in support among small businesses, according to a poll of company bosses this weekend.

The survey from small business support group Enterprise Nation will stay live until May 7, but already shows 43 per cent of bosses intending to vote Conservative. Labour support comes in at just 16 per cent, with the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party not far behind.

Small and medium-sized enterprise owners are very politically engaged, according to another survey, with 93 per cent expected to use their vote. This is set to be far higher than the overall turnout.

At the 2010 Election, voting turnout among SME owners was 80 per cent against 65 per cent generally. This time the North East is set to have the highest turnout among SME owners, with 98 per cent intending to vote, according to the study from utility switching website Makeitcheaper.

On Monday, Prime Minister David Cameron sent thanks to ‘the entrepreneurs, to the techies, to the roof tilers, to the retailers, to the plumbers, to the builders’ for the ‘biggest economic turnaround in Europe’.

The Conservatives have pledged to increase the number of business start-ups to 600,000 a year by the end of the next Parliament, cut £10billion of red tape and keep the Employment Allowance until 2020 so that a third of employers pay no employers’ National Insurance contributions.

The party’s Small Business Manifesto also said: ‘We will put in place a new significantly higher permanent level for the Annual Investment Allowance,’ and promised to ‘help the self-employed by launching a review into tackling the disadvantages they face, including in access to maternity pay, pensions and mortgages.’

The Conservative Party said it will prioritise £100billion of new invest- ment in infrastructure, treble the number of Start Up Loans, back small firms with ‘a major business rates review’, raise the target for SMEs’ share of central government contracts to a third, and establish a new Small Business Conciliation service ‘to mediate in disputes, especially over late payment’.

Businesswoman and Tory peer Karren Brady recently organised a letter backing the Conservatives signed by 5,000 small company bosses. Perfume entrepreneur Jo Malone was among the signatories.

‘The world is looking at us as a really strong economy again. It’s working, and people’s lives are coming back together and jobs are being created, why would we jeopardise that?’ said Malone. ‘I’ve never put my head above the parapet in politics but I feel so strongly this time that I do have to say something.’

The co-founder of beer maker Cobra, Lord Bilimoria, who has described a possible Labour-SNP government as ‘terrifying’, said: ‘It is still possible for the Conservatives to win an outright majority – unlikely though, by all accounts. You’ve got jobs – so why aren’t they connecting?’

Of the uncertainty, Norman Pickvance, head of people and culture at accountant Grant Thornton, said: ‘I believe one reason why this Election is so close to call is because of a lack of trust in politicians. That also applies to the business community.’