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Start-up numbers drop

Dec 11 2008

November saw the lowest number of start-up companies created since the dotcom crash in 2001, dropping by over a third compared to two years ago.

Figures from Companies House, obtained by the Financial Times, show 23,871 firms were set up in November, a 34 per cent drop on this time in 2006.

Companies House reports 300,000 limited firms are usually added each year.

Caroline Williams, chief executive of Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, tells the Eastern Daily Press many people may be choosing to stay in their job rather than start out on their own.

She adds that potential entrepreneurs used to use houses as collateral but as the value of homes drops fewer people can do this.

'These two things together means that I'm not surprised at this news,' Williams states.

In addition, firms are finding it increasingly hard to secure credit as research from the Federation of Small Businesses earlier this week showed a third cannot find affordable loans or overdrafts.

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