The buoyancy of the property market and its effect on prospective business owners sentiment may have prevented the number of small start-ups falling more than 11% in the second quarter.
The latest survey from Barclays found 82,000 businesses started trading in England and Wales compared with 92,000 in the same period last year. Some 110,000 businesses closed in the second quarter, a year-on-year increase of 8%.
The retail sector suffered a 35% drop in new businesses in the six months to July.
Financial Times 11/09/02 page 2
