Reduction of 3.1% in business start-ups in Switzerland in the 3rd quarter

CRIF AG has examined how many new businesses were formed in the third quarter of 2018 and how many companies were dissolved. All in all, 9692 companies were set up in Switzerland over this period, equivalent to a reduction of 3.1% compared with the same period of the previous year. On the other hand, 6892 companies were also deleted from the Commercial Register during the third quarter. In total, 31,978 businesses were set up over the first nine months; this represents a slight increase of 0.2% in comparison with the previous year.

Most of the new entries were registered in the Cantons of Zurich (1,788), Vaud (954), Geneva (855), Bern (771) and Zug (628). A comparison of the number of company formations with those founded in the 3rd quarter of 2017 shows that the highest growth was experienced in the Canton of Zug, at 84, followed by Neuchâtel with 32 and Solothurn with 23 new companies.
On the other hand, there was a fall in the number of companies set up the Cantons of Aargau (-92), Valais (-83) and St. Gallen (-67) compared with the same period of the previous year.

A look at the individual sectors reveals that start-ups were most frequent in the area of management consultancy (795), followed by the retail trade (708), construction (681) and the real estate sector (540).
The largest number of liquidations was experienced in the retail trade (724), followed by construction (581), the wholesale trade (571) and in food and beverage (553).

The areas with the highest net growth are in management consultancy (453), the real estate trade (306) and the health sector (245). There has been a reduction in the number of businesses in the wholesale sector (-81), the food and beverage trade (-44) and the insurance sector (-29).

Highlights
All new companies registered on the Business Register between July and September 2018 were taken into account, as well as all companies in the same period that were removed from the Business Register. A company can be removed, for example, due to being stricken off, within the context of suspension of bankruptcy proceedings, at the end of the liquidity period, in the case of mergers, or company closures due to a lack of business succession.

The complete study can be requested by writing to presse.ch@crif.com