A TOTAL OF 140 companies were dissolved in the past seven days, according to company closure documents.

An overview of the list of dissolved companies compiled by Vision-net.ie and seen by TheJournal.ie shows that only two of these companies had been in business for less than a year and only 24 had been trading for a period between one and three years.

The rest had been set up over three years ago – the longest-standing company to be dissolved this week was Express Travel Service Ltd., registered in Dublin 2, which had been in business for 50 years and 6 months. Forty-two companies which were dissolved this past week had been trading for over a decade.

The sectors in which the businesses had operated were diverse, although those providing engineering, IT and property and construction services were among the most represented in the list.

In other unedifying news in the seven days up to 8 December 2011, liquidators were appointed to 71 companies and receivers appointed to 23 other businesses. Thirty-six businesses released notice that they are facing a meeting of creditors to appoint a liquidator.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan, in his Tuesday Budget 2012 announcement, had vowed to provide “stimulus” for SMEs in Ireland to “develop, grow and expand their markets”. He mentioned measures such as promoting R&D by means of a tax credit allowance for businesses spending money in that area, an extension of the corporate tax exemption for new start-up companies, and a foreign earnings deduction for smaller companies who expand their exports to the so-called BRICS countries, eg, Russia, India and China.