• Swindon & Wiltshire News
• Friday August 15 2014

New company registrations in Swindon shrink as UK average rises

The number of business start-ups registered in Swindon dropped slightly in the first quarter of 2014, according to a new survey – bucking the national trend.

The latest Duport Business Confidence Report shows that 399 news businesses were registered at Companies House between January and April, down two percent from 407 in the same period last year, but still only slightly lower than the record-breaking 411 registered in 2012.

However, the number of start-ups recorded nationally rose by almost 12 percent.

In the same period, 219 Swindon companies were dissolved – a decrease of more than 10 percent over the same period last year, when 245 businesses disappeared.

Swindon’s share of UK businesses remained at 0.3 percent of the UK total – a figure that has remained constant since 2010.

Other interesting statistics to come out of the report include:

• The average age of a director in the first quarter of 2014 was 44.4.
• The percentage of directors under the age of 25 was 3.6 percent, compared to the UK figure of 4.6 percent.
• The percentage of directors over the age of 65 was 2.4 percent, compared to the UK figure of 3.5 percent.
• Almost a third (29.7 percent) of all director appointments in Swindon in the first quarter of 2014 were female. This compares to a UK average of 26.4 percent for the same period.

The picture in Wiltshire

Over the same period, the number of start-ups registered in Wiltshire increased by two percent to 1,067.

The number of companies dissolved during the period stood at 591 – a 5.4 percent drop against the same period last year, and much lower than the 846 recorded in 2009.

Wiltshire’s share of UK companies dropped very slightly from 0.8 percent (a figure that has remained constant since 2010) to 0.7 percent.

In other statistics:

• The average age of a director in the first quarter of 2014 was 46.
• The percentage of directors under the age of 25 was 5 percent compared to the UK figure of 4.6 percent.
• The percentage of directors over the age of 65 was 2.2 percent compared to the UK figure of 3.5 percent.
• 31.2 percent of all director appointments in Wiltshire in the first quarter of 2014 were female, compared to the national average of 26.4 percent.