Montana Secretary of State Brad Johnson announces that new business startups are on the rise.

Today Secretary of State Brad Johnson http://sos.mt.gov/ announced that the number of new small businesses in Montana continues to grow. Assumed Business Names, the most common legal standing under which a small business gets started, have increased every year for the past three years. Now, at the midway point of 2008, those numbers are on track for an even larger increase this year.

Johnson said, "In the Secretary of State’s office, we’re committed to making it easier to start your own business in Montana. The paperwork to file a new business is reduced, the fees have remained low, and the result is that Montanans demonstrate their entrepreneurial spirit in ever-increasing numbers."

A recently-completed analysis in the Secretary of State’s office shows that in 2005 there were 6654 new businesses started under Assumed Business Names. In 2006, there were 7128. In 2007, the number reached 7307. Now, in the middle of 2008, the number of new Assumed Business Names is on track to reach 7926 – based on 3963 new filings for the first six months of the year.

Johnson added, "Our figures also show that existing businesses are not going away."

If the growth continues, that would represent an increase of 619 new businesses, as compared to 179 in 2007 and 474 in 2006.

Johnson explained "There’s even more potential for good news on this front, because we have new corporations and limited liability companies as well. But those aren’t included in these numbers. They aren’t as common as Assumed Business Names, and they’re often large companies rather than small businesses."

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Bowen Greenwood

Communications Director

Secretary of State Brad Johnson

(406) 444-2807

cell: (406) 461-5180

[email protected]