Company formations sustain growth
Company formations in the first nine months of the year are 9.5% higher than January to September 2019. To date, 572,882 companies have launched in 2020. Every English region and devolved nation saw year-on-year growth in company formations in September, averaging 29% across the UK and creating a four-month run of growth. Scotland saw 29% year-on-year growth in September, helping it recover from the sharpest fall in the UK to an overall 12% year-on-year increase since Covid took hold in March. Only Wales and Northern Ireland continue to see fewer company formations since Covid swept the UK (-4% and -8% respectively). Download the full regional and sector data
News
- Government to protect small businesses with action on late payment (gov.uk announces consultation to give Small Business Commissioner more power)
- MPs slam ‘inconsistency and incompetence’ as SMEs struggle to get Bounce Back Loans (CityAM)
- Almost half of staff at UK offices had returned before new advice (Guardian covers Morgan Stanley Alphawise data)
- Legalise e-scooters to cut number of cars on UK roads, MPs urge government (Independent covers Transport Committee report)
- Crowdfunding platforms Seedrs and Crowdcube announce plans to merge (CityAM)
- Leadership in ‘laggards’ key to post-Covid productivity gains (new ERC research)
Opinion
- Productivity in SMEs: A tale of the tortoise and the hare? (Caroln Stanfield, research associate, Enterprise Research Centre)
- Why Klarna — not Revolute or Monzo — represents the winning fintech strategy in a pandemic (Leon Gauhman, chief product and strategy officer, Elsewhen)
- Coronavirus or not, remote work is here to stay (Matt Clancy, lecturer, Iowa State University)
- Venture capital? I’m loving angels instead (Lord Flight, chairman, Flight & Partners Recovery Fund)
eatures
- Computer Weekly: Most influential women in UK tech 2020
- Oxford Foundry: Universities: Drivers of prosperity and economic recovery (new report)
- Sifted: Too many startups are failing and this new members’ club wants to help (profile of Startup Garage)