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Business barometer has mixed news for Limerick |
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Written by David Raleigh
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Wednesday, 03 February 2010 |
LIMERICK was just outside the top five Irish locations to start up a new business in 2009, according to new research published last week.
The Bank Of Ireland ‘Business Start-Up Barometer’ revealed that new businesses were starting up in Limerick at the average rate of one per day. A total of 454 businesses started up in Limerick during 2009.
While this is a long way off the ‘top of the list’ Dublin—which registered 6,129 start-ups—financial experts say that the figures may be viewed with “some optimism”, particularly in one of the toughest years for business in recent history.
The figures unveil a mixed picture across the country.
Given the decline in the commercial and residential property markets, there was a decrease in the number of new business formed in the associated industry sector of finance, insurance and real estate.
As a sector it had a 37% drop in new company registrations when compared to 2008, or just 1,176. It also showed a spike in the number of dissolved companies, up in 2009 by 39% to 1,698.
However, overall new business activity fell by 9 per cent, year on year, while the number of dissolutions increased by 16% on the 2008 figures, particularly in the motoring sector, whose dissolution rate soared by 42% on the 2008 level.
The services sector saw the largest number of start-ups in 2009, with 3,500 new businesses registered.
Commenting on the research, Denis Minihane, Regional Business Manager West Munster, Bank of Ireland said: “2009 was a challenging year with a fall off in new business start-ups, particularly in the first half of the year. This slowed significantly in the second half and resulting in a 9% year on year drop. As expected, the pick up in the latter part of the year can be partly attributed to the lead in time for establishing new businesses, with many people opting for entrepreneurship as an employment option. 2010 should be viewed with some optimism.”
However, Mr Minihan added: “Going into 2010, there are some signs of optimism. Many businesses have taken the necessary action to reduce costs and realign their business models. Company dissolutions, although at the highest level in 2009 are declining quarter by quarter. The outlook for 2010 is that overall start-up activity will remain at between 13,000 and 15,000 new companies being formed this year.
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