PRESS RELEASE

 Contact Ginny Colbert: 802-828-2148
For Immediate Release: January 22, 2009
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 New Business Starts Slow in 2008

 Filings with Vermont's Secretary of State's Office show new business starts lagging in 2008

 Montpelier. Secretary of State Deb Markowitz announced today that the number of new businesses registered with the Secretary of State’s Corporations Division during the year 2008 have decreased considerably.  As of January 1, 2009, there were registered in Vermont 15,495 Vermont corporations, 8,704 foreign corporations (out-of-state companies doing business in Vermont), 38,290 trade names (sole proprietorships), and 17,345 limited liability companies.  Of these, 8,631 were newly formed in 2008.  This is significantly less than the 9,452 new businesses that registered in 2007. 

Secretary of State Deb Markowitz said, “In 2007 Vermont had 500 fewer new businesses starting up.  The slow down in new business starts was even worse in 2008, and reflects a change from the steady increases we saw over the past decade. The fact that fewer Vermonters are starting new businesses is not surprising given the impact of the economic downturn on the state and the contraction of the lending market.”  According to Markowitz, corporate dissolutions are also up.  The 941 dissolutions in 2008 represent a small increase from the 867 dissolutions in 2007. 

Markowitz said, “Although considerably fewer new businesses registered in 2008 than in previous years, it is interesting to observe that it still is considerably more than what we saw a decade ago.”  In 1998 there were 6,730 new business registrations, which is nearly 2,000 less than in 2008.  

"In past years we have found that our business-starts statistic is a good barometer of confidence within the business community,” said Secretary Markowitz. “The fact that we continue to have fewer new businesses registering in the state is a sign that we must do more to encourage Vermonters to be entrepreneurial.” Markowitz said.   

The 8,631 new Vermont business starts in 2008 include businesses that have been formed as corporations, as limited liability corporations, and those using a trade name. 

In contrast to the decrease in numbers of new business starts, this year saw an increase in the number of new non-profit corporations filing with the Secretary of State's office.  The 456 new non-profit corporations represent a small increase from the 413 new non-profits formed in 2007.   

The Office of the Vermont Secretary of State licenses and registers foreign and domestic corporations, non-profits, LLCs, and trade names and is the repository for Uniform Commercial Code filings. Information about the services offered by the Corporations Division, including registration forms and searchable databases, is available at www.sec.state.vt.us/corps.

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