Almost 600 new businesses were registered in Caerphilly County Borough last year, figures compiled by company secretarial services firm Inform Direct have revealed.
The statistics, sourced from Companies House records, show that 597 businesses were registered during 2015, up by just one from 2014.
This year’s figure placed Caerphilly ninth out of 22 local authority areas in Wales on number of new businesses registered. Cardiff was top with 2,818, followed by Rhondda Cynon Taf with 1,311. Swansea is in third-place with 1,216.
In total, Wales had 14,689 new business registrations last year, up by 5.3% compared to 2014.
However, it has been claimed that Wales is “lagging behind” the rest of the UK when it comes to the number of new businesses being set up.
The 2015 figures equate to 4.8 new businesses set up per 1,000 people in the country, in comparison with the UK average of 9.7.
The total number of companies based in Wales increased to 100,661. However, nearly 9,900 companies closed in Wales in 2015.
Henry Catchpole, Managing Director of Inform Direct said: “Wales has seen slower growth than the rest of the country and a large number of dissolutions too, which is a matter of some concern.”