Credit, collections & insolvency news
UK net business borrowing is on course to fall sharply over 2021 as firms pay down existing debt far faster than predicted, according to the latest EY ITEM Club for Financial Services Forecast. The forecast estimates that net bank lending to UK businesses will fall to minus £1.6bn over 2021, following £35.5bn net being lent in 2020,…
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Research by PwC and Local Data Company shows that over one in ten (11%) of chain shops in Scotland failed to reopen after the lockdown in the first months of this year. The overall picture showed that there were 99 units, 4.7% of the total, that closed permanently while a further 143, or 6.8%, did…
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UK Finance’s Business Finance Review for Quarter 3 2021 has shown that gross lending to SMEs was around £5.2 billion in Q3 2021, indicating that business lending figures broadly unchanged from the previous quarter. The report Applications for new loans and overdrafts continued to trend down over the quarter – consistent across sectors and regions.…
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New figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that total asset finance new business (primarily leasing and hire purchase) fell by 7% in October 2021 compared with the same month in 2020. In the ten months to October 2021, new business was 17% higher than in the same period in 2020. The…
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New research by Visma | Onguard has found that 61% of organisations now either use Robotic Process Automation (RPA)/robotisation or are developing ideas on how to incorporate the technology into their business. This represents an increase of 15% compared to 2020 figures (46%). This rise in RPA adoption coincides with the increased use of Intelligent…
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Law firm Wright Hassall has named announced the appointment of a new Managing Partner. Phil Wilding has been appointed to the role after Sarah Perry, who has been in the position for the past six years, announced her decision to step down from the firm. Wildling has been with the firm for ten years as…
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New research commissioned by Dun & Bradstreet has found that over half (52%) of European businesses surveyed don’t think they will survive without relevant, up-to-date and compliant business data. The findings, of the ‘The Future of Data’ report, revealed that two-thirds of business leaders agree that data is the most useful tool for their organisation…
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Ofwat has finalised its decision which will see Thames Water pay over £11 million to 13,800 business customers and water retailers for errors in its data which led to customers being billed the wrong amount. In addition to the financial package, Thames Water has proposed a series of undertakings which, among others, include strengthening its…
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A report from the National Audit Office (NAO) says the Government only put basic anti-fraud checks on the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) for small firms once more than £28 billion had already been paid out. The British Business Bank stepped up to deliver the Bounce Back Loan Scheme on behalf of Government to ensure…
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Scotland lost almost 20,000 small businesses during a single year of the covid crisis, according to official statistics. As a consequence of this dramatic fall in business numbers, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is urging the Scottish Government to outline new measures to aid the recovery of local businesses in the budget next week.…
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Almost a fifth (18%) of small business owners have identified late payments as the key barrier to their growth, behind only competition as the biggest barrier, according to new research by Superscript. The research, part of a report titled ‘Supercharging small business growth, highlights the struggles that small businesses face with late payments’ found that…
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New research from Experian, which analyses 2.2 million UK businesses, has revealed that, on average, businesses’ credit scores are recovering well from the impact of the pandemic. Business credit score levels were back up to the pre-pandemic average of 44 by September 2021, compared to a score of 40 throughout most of lockdown. A business…
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A new report by Atradius for Eastern Europe indicates a promising future for businesses that have maintained the status-quo, despite the challenges faced during the second year of the pandemic. Key metrics, including the percentage of write-offs and total volume of overdue Business to Business (B2B) invoices, show little year-on-year change. Write-offs averaged 5% of…
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