Three in four businesses set post lockdown growth plan

More than three in four small business owners (78%) are working on plans to strengthen their enterprises in the next 12-months, with the top priorities being to increase sales income (48%), to launch new service lines (28%), reduce the fixed costs (23%) and to build up financial reserves (23%). These new research findings from Hitachi…

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Pandemic results in Hospitality sector losing £80.8bn of sales

The Covid-19 pandemic has wiped a staggering £80.8bn off hospitality’s sales in just 12 months, the latest edition of the UKHospitality Quarterly Tracker with CGA reveals. The Tracker shows sales from the start of April 2020 to the end of March 2021 totalled £46 billion, down by 64% on £126.8 billion in the previous 12…

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Low number of profit warnings disguising outlook for businesses

UK quoted companies issued 50 profit warnings in Q1 2021, an 83% decrease from the 301 warnings recorded in Q1 2020 according to a latest report from EY-Parthenon’s which indicated the biggest year-on-year percentage fall in UK profit warnings on record. Profit warnings were pushed to record levels in Q1 2020 at the onset of…

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One in seven shops remain empty

30th April 2021 Commercial Credit Management |

The number of empty shops has risen, with one in seven now vacant, according to new research by the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The quarterly report found that in the first three months of 2021, the overall vacancy rate increased to 14.1%, from 13.7% in the previous quarter. This was 1.9 percentage points higher than…

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Delayed payments to SMEs hinder business recovery

29th April 2021 Commercial Credit Management |

The number of delayed invoices owed to small businesses in the last 12 months , which, on average, totalled a staggering £130,445.05, will continue to hinder their recovery in the second half of this year, according to survey data from Dun & Bradstreet. The survey which polled 753 small businesses in the UK also found…

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Business CCJ figures fall by 55%

28th April 2021 Commercial Credit Management |

County Court Judgments (CCJs) against businesses in England and Wales fell by 55 percent from 33,518 in Q1 2020 to 15,210 in Q1 2021, according to figures released by Registry Trust. Numbers are up 20% from the recent low seen in Q2 2020 but have ranged around the 15,000 mark for the past three quarters.…

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Scottish business debt decrees fall by nearly 40%

27th April 2021 Commercial Credit Management |

The number of decrees registered against Scottish businesses during the first Quarter of 2021  fell by over 40% according to latest Registry Trust data. The number of decrees against Scottish businesses fell from 722 to 434. The total value fell by 27 percent from just under £3 million to £2.2 million. The average value rose…

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Northern Irish business judgements fall 42%

27th April 2021 Commercial Credit Management |

The number of debt judgments registered against Northern Ireland businesses in the first Quarter of 2021 fell by 42% according to the latest Registry Trust figures. The number of judgments registered in Q1 2021 was just 152, compared to 261 in Q2 last year, a fall of 42 percent. The total value of judgments against…

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SMEs hopeful of regaining lost pandemic revenue within a year

26th April 2021 Commercial Credit Management |

SME leaders believe it will take on average 12 months for their businesses to regain lost revenue caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to research revealed today by Nucleus Commercial Finance. Over half a million SMEs (590,000) say it will take between 10-12 months to make up the lost revenue caused by Covid-19 and 1.6…

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732,000 businesses facing ‘significant financial distress’

23rd April 2021 Commercial Credit Management |

The latest Red Flag Alert research for Q1 2021 has recorded 723,000 businesses in ‘significant financial distress1’ after the largest numerical quarterly leap (93,000) recorded in the research since its new version was launched in 2014. The 15% increase (from 630,000 in Q4 2020) comes as the UK starts its exit from lockdown. This newly…

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One in five businesses believe recovery will take two years

23rd April 2021 Commercial Credit Management |

Small businesses expect a long, slow road to recovery to pre-pandemic levels of trading, according to a survey from ACCA UK (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and The Corporate Finance Network (CFN). The gloomy prediction emerges from the SME Tracker, which surveys accountants about their clients. It shows that 20% of SMEs are convinced…

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UK recovery accelerates sector growth hits six-month high

23rd April 2021 Commercial Credit Management |

The number of UK sectors reporting output growth rose to a six-month high in March, according to the latest Lloyds Bank UK Recovery Tracker, as businesses prepared for the end of the third lockdown. The last time this many UK manufacturers and services firms were in growth mode was September 2020, two months before the…

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Over half of businesses operate without cyber-security insurance

20th April 2021 Commercial Credit Management |

New research has revealed that 56% of businesses are operating without any form of cyber-security insurance. This is despite one in five companies reporting an attack in the last 12 months and the likelihood of a continued surge in cyber-attacks in the coming months, and beyond. The companies reporting a cyber-attack, over half said security…

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