New report shows that VAT-registered companies grew by 3%, reaching over 2 million by the start of 2008.
Estimates of the number of enterprises registering and de-registering for VAT in 2007 have been published by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR). The stock of VAT-registered enterprises at the start of 2008 has also been released.
The stock of VAT-registered enterprises increased by 57,900 (3%) during 2007, to reach 2.03 million at the start of 2008. There has been an increase in the stock of VAT-registered enterprises in every year since 1995, resulting in a 26% rise in the number of VAT-registered businesses between the start of 1995 and the start of 2008.
In 2007, there were 205,700 new registrations - an increase of 13% on 2006 levels, and the highest number recorded since the series began in 1941. There were 147,800 de-registrations in 2007 - an increase of 2% on 2006 levels.
Obviously, these statistics relate to the pre-downturn period. It will be interesting to see if there is a reduction in business start-ups when the next statistics are released or whether redundancies will spawn a whole new influx of new company formations.