More new businesses were set up in Devon during 2020 than in any previous year – hitting a new record high for the third year in a row.
Despite the considerable economic challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic, 7,174 new companies were registered in the county compared to 6,196 during 2019, representing an increase of 15.8%.
This brings the total number of registered companies in Devon to 57,278, up from 53,264 at the end of 2019, which equates to 7.5% growth.
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The number of businesses in Devon has now grown for five straight years, from 47,095, with more than 5,000 created every year. Cornwall had 23,804 businesses at the end of 2020, Somerset had 55,092 and Dorset had 54,841.
The statistics are taken from the Inform Direct Review of Company Formations using data from Companies House and the Office for National Statistics.
Plymouth formed the highest number of new businesses (1,428), followed by Exeter (1,113), Teignbridge (901), Torbay (882) and East Devon (754).
Plymouth had a total of 9,703 companies by the end of 2020, Exeter had 8,634, Teignbridge had 6,763, Torbay had 6,968 and West Devon had 7,041.
Many of the new businesses were in the retail sector, particularly online e-commerce operations, and others were set up by people who has been made redundant during the pandemic.
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However, 3,994 Devon businesses were dissolved in 2020, many of them in September and October, with July being the busiest month for business formation.
Of the new businesses, 95% were set up as private limited companies, with almost half of them community interest companies (CICs).
In Cornwall, 2,951 businesses were formed and 1,825 dissolved. In Somerset there were 6,432 new ventures replacing 3,899 that disappeared and in Dorset, 7,253 new enterprises compared to 4,938 that were disolved.
John Korchak, operations director at , which collated the figures, said: “It is excellent news to see that Devon has achieved a record year for new company formations during 2020despite the unprecedented uncertainties brought by Covid-19.
“Many of the new company formations are in the retail sector, with a large number of new businesses set up to sell goods online or locally, thereby taking advantage of customers’ changing shopping habits.
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“Secondly, the effect of the pandemic and national lockdowns means that sadly some existing businesses have folded and employees made redundant, and we see many of those people setting up new ventures on their own as an alternative way to earn a living.
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“2020 was a year like no other for 海角视频 businesses,” he added. “Although we can look forward to a brighter future with the vaccination programme, there remain unknown factors such as how quickly the economy will recover and of course the impact of Brexit.”
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Alongside Devon’s total, the 海角视频 as a whole saw a record-breaking 780,766 new businesses formed, compared to 690,763 in 2019.
The overall number of 海角视频 companies also continued to grow to 4,837,426, an 8.2% increase on the total of 4,471,008 at the end of 2019. London led the way with 270,114 company formations in 2020, ahead of West Midlands (37,202) and Greater Manchester (36,288).
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The number of company dissolutions across the 海角视频 – 418,427 during 2020 – was the lowest since 2015. It remains open to debate whether this positive trend will last, especially when Government support for businesses is withdrawn.
New enterprises set up during the pandemic might also be short-lived, as people return to full-time employment or struggle to take the business to the next level.
Inform Direct is a company secretarial and formation specialist. Its award-winning software currently supports more than 175,000 海角视频 companies.