Galway bucks the trend on new company registrations

Galway is continuing to buck the national trend of the recession, with more than 750 new companies and business names registered here in the first six months of the year.

The figures for new company formations are up more than eleven per cent on the same period last year.

And the head of the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME) said there “must be something in the water” in Galway, as hundreds of entrepreneurs start up their own businesses here.

Figures compiled for the Connacht Tribune by Vision-net.ie show there were 301 new companies registered in the city and county in the first six months of this year – that’s up 11.5% from 270 during the same period last year.

That means new company registrations are up by more than one-third on the comparative period in 2011.

And in the first half of this year, there were 764 business names registered in Galway, down 2% on the same period in 2012.

A company is a legal entity separate from those who own and run it. While a company can be sued, shareholders cannot. A business or trading name has no limitation on liability, and whoever owns the name is liable for any obligations taken on under that name.

Mark Fielding, Chief Executive of ISME told the Connacht Tribune the figures are good news for Galway.

“If the increases are continuous, year-on-year, this isn’t an aberration, or an accident. There’s no scientific explanation. There must be something in the water there. It’s great news for a county like Galway,” he said.

For full story see this week’s Connacht Tribune