Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The latest Red Flag Alert research for Q3 2020 has recorded that 557,000 businesses are now in ‘significant distress’ after the largest quarterly leap in financially distressed companies since 2017. This 6% increase (from 527,000 in Q2 2020) in the last three months comes despite a backlog of court action preventing many CCJs and winding…
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The Office for National Statistics (ONS) latest results of its Business Impact of Coronavirus Survey have found that that two-thirds of businesses currently trading have a ‘low to severe risk’ of insolvency. The ONS analysis shows that 64% of businesses are at risk of insolvency, with 43% running on less than six months’ cash reserves.…
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A change to business rates, and targeted support to industries most in need, will help limit the economic damage caused by the pandemic according to chartered accountancy body ICAEW. The results of a survey to ICAEW members, found that a third of businesses would need government support over the next six months – and some…
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Forecasts published by PwC have indicated that the hotel industry could take four years to return to 2019 levels of business. Occupancy rates are expected to average 45% next year, up from between a third and two-fifths in 2020 which is an unprecedentedly bleak outlook. Hotel trading performance is set to decline significantly in 2021…
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Fundamental risks to business continuity as a result of the pandemic mean that an estimated 193 airports face insolvency in the coming months if passenger traffic does not start to recover by the year end according to new research by ACI Europe. These airports between them facilitate 277 thousand jobs and €12.4 billion of European…
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Credit Connect Media has announced that the second edition of its Connected News series will take place on Thursday 26th November at 10am. The next discussion will focus on Customer Engagement. Speakers from Centrica and Business Stream will join supplier sponsor Aspect and Credit Connect to discuss the impact of the pandemic upon consumers and…
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A new study from King’s Business School has found that nearly two-thirds of entrepreneurs believe their business might not survive the pandemic, while more than half predicted they would run out of money within a year The research found that 5.86 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are in a precarious position and that targeted…
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The Federation of Small Business (FSB) says that it will make a case for a fresh iteration of business support measures as its new survey of 1,500 small firms shows confidence has been in negative territory since July 2018. The recommendations come amid signs that the UK’s nascent economic recovery is stalling and ahead of…
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The Institute of Directors (IoD) has called on the Government to extend a relaxation of insolvency rules granted to directors during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The IoD is urging Government to reinstate key insolvency protection for company directors, to prevent a sharp rise in insolvencies as restrictions come into place across the country.…
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New research has found that regions in the North of England could lose between six and fourteen years worth of growth due to the financial hit created by the pandemic. The research by business lender iwoca found that the North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber have been forecast to lose 11.7%, 11.2%…
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Latest figures from HM Treasury have revealed that the UK’s banking and finance industry has supported over 1.4 million businesses across the country through government-backed Coronavirus lending schemes. Lenders have approved over 73,000 facilities through the CBIL scheme and over 1.3 million business owners have benefited from the Bounce Back Loan scheme. For larger businesses,…
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A majority of finance chiefs in the UK are pushing back their expectations for a return to the levels of demand seen before the Covid-19 pandemic, the results of a closely-followed survey. Finance leaders continue to rank the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as the top risk to their businesses, followed by rising geopolitical issues…
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The British Retail Consortium has launched its latest Payment Survey showing card use continuing to rise steadily from 54% of transactions in 2016 to 61% in 2019. This trend has accelerated under coronavirus, which lead to more customers shopping online or paying by card in store. At the same time, the cost to retailers of…
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