LIMERICK recorded a 15 per cent increase in start-up businesses in the first nine months of the year with 632 new enterprises opening their doors to the public.
That’s according to the latest figures from Vision-net which maintains a comprehensive database of business indices for every Irish company.
Limerick was the only county in the top five to record an increase of more than 0.5 per cent in the first nine months of the year, with 632 new company start-ups compared to 549 last year.
Although it was still the most popular county for new start-ups, Dublin recorded an increase of less than 0.5 per cent with the number of new companies rising from 7,635 to 7,659 during the first half of the year.
Insolvencies were down in Limerick by 25 per cent, with 24 businesses having to shut up shop in the first nine months of 2018 compared to 32 in the same period last year.
The increase in Limerick comes against a backdrop of business and company start-up growth slowing nationally in the first three quarters of 2018 but with insolvencies decreasing by 23 per cent.
Taking the last three months in isolation, however, all of the top five counties for company start-ups recorded decreases. Dublin recorded the most company start-ups (2,475) but this was a -4 per cent decrease on the same period in 2017. Limerick, ranked fifth, recorded the smallest decrease at -2 per cent, dropping from 190 to 186.
Construction, real estate and hospitality all registered an encouraging decrease in insolvencies in the first three quarters of the year.
The figures suggest that Ireland’s fast rate of business growth may be slowing. The fact that insolvencies declined by 23 per cent indicates that established companies are maturing, able to service their creditors, and operating well in their markets.
