3,408 start-ups were formed this April - of these 1,350 (40%) were companies with the remainder being businesses.

Company start-ups were 7% up on figures from last April (1,267). A quarter of this April's new companies chose to operate in the professional services sector.

The construction sector continued to see gains with 113 new companies forming (up 11% on last April). The real estate sector also saw an improvement with a 54% increase in new entrants (83 v 54).

83 companies were declared insolvent last month, a drop of 27% on April 2014.

The hospitality sector was worst affected with 15 companies being declared insolvent (up from 10 the previous April).

The majority of industry sectors saw drops in insolvency figures with construction and real estate again faring well with decreases of 23.5% and 33% respectively.