SCOTTISH start-up numbers increased at an annual rate of one per cent in the second quarter on one measure after falling sharply in the preceding three months, in a possible sign that confidence among entrepreneurs is increasing.
The Committee of Scottish Bankers logged 3,179 start-ups in the quarter to June, up 36 on the 3,143 recorded in the same period last year.
The number of start-ups had fallen by nine per cent annually in the first quarter of this year.
The figures include businesses opening accounts with Royal Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale Bank and the Bank of Scotland and TSB arms of Lloyds Banking Group.
Hugh Lightbody, chief officer at Business Gateway National Unit, said while the figures are only representative of data from four banks, they show a similar trend to that recorded by the advice service.
Business Gateway helped 2,554 new businesses across Scotland to start in the three months to June, up 2.5 per cent compared with the same period last year.
However, as the number of start-ups recorded by the Committee of Scottish Bankers in the latest quarter was down 4.4%, 147, from 3,326 in the three months to March, experts may not take too much encouragement from the figures.
The statistics indicate activity is increasing in some sectors amid the economic reovery.
The number of start-ups in the contruction and tranport, storage and communications sectors increased in the second quarter compared with both the preceding quarter and the three months to June 2013.
But any recovery in consumer sentiment has not been sufficent to boost activity in either the hotel and restaurant sector or the wholesale and retail trade repairs category. Start-up numbers were down on the second quarter of 2013 and on the first three months of this year in both sectors.
The clearing banks recorded 389 start-ups in the city of Glasgow area in the second quarter, compared with 297 in the same period of last year and 375 in the first three months of 2014.
There were 268 new businesses in Edinburgh in the second quarter, down from 339 in the same period of 2013 and 297 in the first three months of 2014.
The banks recorded 197 start-ups in the city of Aberdeen in the second quarter, versus 192 in the same period last year and 171 in the first three months of 2014.
The body formerly known as the Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers logged 5,550 start-ups in the first three months of 2008 and 5,465 in the second quarter of that year amid the boom that preceded the global financial crisis.
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