Since the recession began in 2008, 55,539 companies have been incorporated while a further 46,931 companies have closed, showing an average annual growth in the number of companies of 2,152.

Top Growth Industries:

Industry

New Companies

- Wholesale & Retail 2,366

- Bus & Pro Services 2,354

- Health & Social Work 2,190

- Social & Personal Services 2,097

- Hotels & Restaurants 918

As you can see, the wholesale and retail sectors, commonly flagged as one of the hardest hit industries, recorded net growth of over 2,300 companies in the past four years.

The professional services sector shows a similar pattern, with other sectors such as hospitality, information technology, transport and communication all expanding, as well.

However, despite these positive signs not all the news is good.

Analysis of the figures shows that, since 2008, the Construction and Real Estate sectors have, between them, seen a reduction in numbers of almost 4,000 companies.

Also, figures for 2011 show that insolvencies have risen by 20% on the same period last year.

Over 1,800 Irish companies have collapsed between January and November this year, an average of 5 failures per day. These companies have left behind over €1.1bn in debt according to their latest set of filed accounts.