Commercial Register entries is strong in April 2016
Commercial Register new entries in April 2016 show strong growth of 3.6% compared to the same period for the previous year. In total, 3,530 companies were entered into the Commercial Register. April saw a decline of 2.3% in comparison with a strong start-up month of March.
(Source: Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce, SHAB)
Sound growth compared to previous year
The Swiss Commercial Gazette (SHAB) reported a total of 3,530 new entries in the Commercial Register in April 2016. This corresponds to a relative growth of 3.6% compared to the same period of the previous year. The number of new entries equals that of record year 2014, where April saw 3,530 entries.
However, this represents a slight decline of 2.3% compared to the previous month of March. This is unsurprising, since March 2016 was the strongest month for start-ups in Q1 (3,613 entries).
Positive start-up outlook
Q1 2016 surprised with constant relative growth of around 1% compared to Q1 2015. The sound growth in Commercial Register entries in April 2016 invites a positive start-up outlook for 2016. The Swiss start-up scene is defying the difficult economic climate in Switzerland and Europe.
Zurich accounts for the largest share of start-ups
The clear start-up leader is the Canton of Zurich, which – with 656 new entries – represents the largest share of new entries at 18.6%. The Cantons of Vaud and Bern also saw a great number of start-up registrations at 10.8% and 8% respectively. These three Cantons all demonstrate constant growth in comparison to the same period of the previous year. The very high relative growth of 22.83% for the Canton of Vaud compared to the previous year period is particularly impressive, as such strong growth rates are generally rare for otherwise strong Cantons for start-ups. Details of growth rates for the individual Cantons are shown in the following table.
