CRIF AG has looked at how many new businesses were established in the first quarter of 2019 and how many companies went out of business. All in all, 11,599 companies were set up in Switzerland during this time. This represents an increase of 4.9% compared with the first quarter of 2018. On the other hand, 7,729 companies were also deleted from the Commercial Register during the first three months. This is 3.4% more than in the same period of the previous year.
Most of the new entries were registered in the Cantons of Zurich (2,076), Vaud (1,204), Bern (1,013) and Geneva (942). A comparison of the number of business start-ups with those founded in the 1st quarter of 2018 shows that the highest growth was experienced in the Canton of Bern, with 163 new start-ups, followed by Freiburg with 102 and Zurich with 74 new companies.
On the other hand, there was a fall in the number of new companies set up in the Cantons of Zug (-40), Basel-Stadt (-26) and Valais (-24), compared with the 1st quarter of 2018.
A comparison between the new start-ups and the portfolio of companies existing at the beginning of the year reveals that the Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden experienced the highest level of net growth, at 1.4 %, followed by the Cantons of Freiburg, Vaud, Zug und Aargau, with 1.0% each. The only canton recording a negative growth was Uri, with a fall of 0.1%.
A look at the individual sectors reveals that start-ups were most frequent in the construction sector (974) followed by management consultancy (970) and the retail trade (840). The largest number of liquidations was experienced by the retail trade (814), followed by the construction sector (750) und the wholesale sector (661).
The areas with the highest net growth are in management consultancy (589), the real estate trade (347) and the health sector (316). There has been a reduction in the number of businesses in the insurance sector (-31), the production of printed matter (-19) and the publishing industry (-16).
About the survey process
We have taken into consideration all those businesses that were newly entered into the Commercial Register in the period ranging from January to March 2019 , together with all the businesses that were deleted from the Commercial Register during the same period. A business may, for example, be deleted automatically for official reasons when the company is dissolved, at the cessation of bankruptcy proceedings, at the end of the liquidity deadline, in the event of a merger or when a company is closed in the absence of any succession arrangements.
The full study can be requested from presse.ch@crif.com.
