Scotland enjoyed a record number of new company registrations in 2015 bringing the total number of business in the country to a record high according to figures from Inform Direct.

The data shows that 34,711 new companies registered in Scotland last year, up 8.8 per cent on the previous year and compared with a UK year-on-year increase of 4.2 per cent. This brought the total number of businesses in Scotland to a record high of 213,480, up 7.5 per cent from 2014.

Dundee City and Fife were the most impressive parts of Scotland for new start-ups in 2015, taking them to the top of a UK-wide league table.

Dundee City enjoyed a 54 per cent increase in start-up activity last year when 1,253 companies were formed compared with 812 the year before. Start-ups in Fife grew 28 per cent from 2014 to 1879.

The figures show that there were 612,565 businesses formed in 2015 across the whole of the United Kingdom – up from the 586,784 registered in 2014.

Of the new companies created last year in Scotland, 6,924 were in Edinburgh, 6,700 were in Glasgow and 2,573 were in South Lanarkshire.

In total, 19,772 Scottish companies dissolved in 2015.