During November, insolvency rates were highest in the North West, North East and Yorkshire. By comparison, the South East, South West and Greater London recorded failure rates were significantly lower.
Across the country, there was a small month-on-month improvement in the rate of business insolvencies, but the average financial strength of businesses in the UK deteriorated by 0.5 per cent in November, falling to 78.07 from 78.44 in October.
Max Firth, Managing Director for Experian’s Business Information Services division in the UK & Ireland, said: “The latest insolvency index highlights that some businesses continue to need to assess the risk strategies they have in place very carefully. They need first to understand the risks they are exposed to and then protect themselves from debt that could be detrimental to their business on a regular ongoing basis.”
The UK’s biggest sectors
Of the five biggest industry sectors – business services, building/construction, property, IT and leisure/hotels – property was the only one that saw its improving insolvency rate improve – from 0.07 per cent in November 2010 to 0.06 per cent November 2011. It was also the sector to see the biggest improvement from October when the rate was 0.08 per cent.
SMEs
Although smaller businesses (with 3 to 10 employees) have generally managed to maintain lower rates of insolvencies over the past year, they experienced the biggest deterioration in financial strength between November 2010 (an average of 81.80) and November 2011 (an average of 81.04).
