NEW Borders companies assisted by the advice and support of the Business Gateway service have an above average record of survival.

Councillors heard 88 per cent of these enterprises – predominantly one-person firms – were still trading after 12 months.

And that compares to a Scottish average of 76 per cent Scottish Borders Council has run the Business Gateway, which is based at Ettrick Riverside in Selkirk and has an annual budget of £328,000, since 2012.

In a bid to accelerate the rate of new start-ups and the growth of existing businesses, an improvement plan for the advisory service was implemented last May.

And the changes appear to be paying off with the service “well on track” to meet and, in many cases, exceed nationally agreed targets.

A meeting of the new economic development-themed executive of SBC heard that in the nine months to December 31, the Business Gateway team worked with 469 businesses and individuals, and assisted 151 business start-ups, of which 16 have the potential to be high growth.

The advisers delivered 61 start-up workshops and 48 local workshops with 635 attendees. These workshop numbers include a series of half day business start-up outreach sessions which had allowed the team to have a “visible presence” across the region.

Apart from improved survival rates, a customer survey focusing on the period from July to September last year gave the service an overall satisfaction rating of 89% (85% nationally) with 91% (87%) of clients saying they would recommend the service to a friend.

However, the performance with so-called growth companies, with the potential to expand and create jobs, missed its goal, with only four firms being accepted into the pipeline for support from Scottish Enterprise, against a target of 10. “Higher value and growth targets are generally difficult to achieve here due to the structure of the business base and the current economic climate,” explained Business Gateway manager Phil McCreadie. “However we are continuing to work with a number of clients in these areas.” Councillor Stuart Bell, executive member for economic development, said the performance figures showed Business Gateway was “excellent value for money”.

“The effectiveess of the service which provides free tailored business advice is evidenced by the high level of customer satisfaction and business survival rates,” he added.

Councillors also heard that, so far this financial year, the Scottish Borders Business Fund had received 52 applications and approved 43 grants valued at £118,300 supporting projects with a value of around £258,700. These projects were forecast to create 82 jobs and safeguard another 112.

The meeting was told that the first round of loans in 2014/15 had been agreed under the Scottish Borders Business Loan Fund.

The scheme offers loans of between £1,000 and £20,000 over terms of up to three years. Four loan applications had received funding worth £41,600 which are forecast to create 26 jobs and safeguard a further 24.

The council’s portfolio of industrial units, yards and shops was the subject of 125 property enquiries in the nine months to December 31, resulting in 21 new leases which will generate £117,000 in annual rental income.

Current occupancy stands at 89 per cent.