Record year for county firms

There were 10,080 new companies formed in the region in 2015 – up from 9,788 formed the year before.

This represented a 3 per cent growth and means there are now a record number of firms in the area.

The statistics were compiled by www.informdirect.co.uk, a provider of online company formations and secretarial software, using data available from Companies House and the Office of National Statistics.

Its report – The Inform Direct Review of UK Company Formations in 2015 - includes a league table of company formations county by county as well as statistics on firms registered and dissolved and percentage growth.

It has revealed that for the 12 months ended 31st December 2015, there were a record-breaking 612,565 firms formed across the United Kingdom - up from 586,784 the year before.

Of those, 551,886 companies were in England, 34,711 in Scotland, 14,689 in Wales and 7,254 in Northern Ireland.

Henry Catchpole, managing director of Inform Direct said: “Our dynamic economy and business-friendly environment are the reasons there is a ‘Great’ in Great Britain.

“Lancashire has had a very successful year and the figures indicate a surge in entrepreneurialism in 2015 for this region.”

Of the new companies created last year in Lancashire, 1,305 were in Blackburn with Darwen, 1,204 were in Preston, 1,181 were in Fylde, 1,094 were in Blackpool and 539 in Wyre.

He added that there were now a total of 65,240 firms in Lancashire.