MORE than 250 new businesses were formed in Ceredigion in 2021, new figures have revealed.

Data released this week shows that 274 businesses were established in Ceredigion in 2021 with a total of 2,600 companies in the county at the year’s end.

Powys saw the creation of 562 new companies with a total of 5,596 in the county with 469 created in Gwynedd, giving that county a total of 4,369 businesses. Across Wales, 21,386 new companies were registered compared to 19,601 during 2020, an increase of 9.1 per cent.

This brings the total number of registered companies in Wales to 140,077, up from 135,011 at the end of 2020, which equates to 3.8 per cent growth. The statistics come from the Inform Direct Review of Company Formations using data from Companies House and the Office for National Statistics.

Cardiff formed the most new businesses (5,259), followed by Swansea (1,724) and Rhondda Cynon Taf (1,389).

John Korchak, director of operations at Inform Direct said: “It is excellent news to see that Wales has achieved a record year for both new company formations and existing businesses during 2021 despite the continuing challenges of the pandemic.

“The retail sector saw the largest number of new companies (4,077) which may be the result of pent-up demand after the lockdowns of 2020 and early 2021. With widespread restrictions on travel and entertainment, people may have looked to spend their income in different ways. This was followed by construction which ended the year with 3,903 new incorporations.

“Reaching a new record number of companies demonstrates an active economy with entrepreneurs motivated to invest in new businesses which meet current and emerging demands for goods or services. The overall picture for the UK as a whole is also an optimistic one with the total number of companies now exceeding five million for the very first time.”

Another record high was seen in the number of company dissolutions in Wales where there were 21,319 dissolutions, a huge 48.7 per cent increase on 2020. This was mirrored across the UK as a whole where there were 606,912 dissolutions during 2021 – a 45 per cent increase on 2020.