Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The difficulty small business owners are experiencing accessing funding without having to sign a personal guarantee has become clear according new analysis by Purbeck Insurance. The company say that October 2023 saw the largest number of small business owners ever recorded, taking insurance to mitigate the risk of signing a personal guarantee as a condition…
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Business confidence fell to 36% in September, a five point dip from the 18-month high (41%) recorded in August, as companies saw a decline in both economic optimism and trading prospects for the year ahead. While confidence has fallen it remains higher than the first three months of 2023 (20%). Firms’ trading prospects were down…
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The Bank of England has warned that rising interest rates are putting British companies at higher risk of corporate defaults, with the proportion of non-financial companies experiencing debt-servicing stress expected to hit 50% by the end of the year, up from 45% in 2022. The proportion rose to 70% for medium-sized companies, meaning corporate debt…
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New data from Begbies Traynor has revealed that there has been an increase in the number of North West firms faceing significant financial distress as inflation and interest rates bite. In Quarter 2 of 2023, the number of firms in the North West operating in ‘significant’ financial distress was 45,579 according to the research. This is…
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Confidence among finance chiefs at the UK’s biggest companies has seen its sharpest rise since 2020 and has improved significantly since the start of the year, according to Deloitte’s UK CFO Survey Q1 2023. A quarter of CFOs are now more optimistic about the financial prospects of their business than they were three months ago.…
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Small business lender iwoca’s latest SME Expert Index data – based on UK finance brokers who submit over 2,000 SME finance applications a month – has revealed a third of experts (32%) report increased business running costs as small businesses’ top concern. The Budget statement contained a number of measures that touched on these worries.…
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Small business concerns over economic uncertainty have sky-rocketed over the last 12 months by almost 50%, according to new research from Novuna Business Finance. The latest tracking data from its Business Barometer study revealed the percentage of small business owners worried about market volatility has risen from 27% in Q1 2022 to 40% this quarter…
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The number of companies in critical financial distress increased by a third (36%) in the last three months of 2022, according to figures from insolvency firm Begbies Traynor’s Red Flag Alert data. Businesses are struggling at an increasing rate as a combination of legacy Covid debt, inflation and greater pressure on consumers who are reining…
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A survey by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Corporate Finance Network reveals confidence among SMEs has fallen from 38% in summer last year to 17% now The number of SMEs who have plans for growth has plummeted from 38% in the summer of last year to just 17% with the Chancellor’s…
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A survey of over 1,000 UK small businesses has revealed that rising fuel and energy costs is now believed to be one of the greatest threats to SME survival in 2022. The SME Insights Report, published by small business insurance provider Simply Business, also found that one third (36%) stated tax and national insurance hikes are their greatest concern.…
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A poll by software company FreeAgent has found that a quarter of SMEs believe the economy has been damaged irreversibly by Brexit and the pandemic. The poll also showed that 64% of businesses are worried their businesses may not survive the next 12 months. The study found that while a fifth of SMEs believe there…
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More than a third of the UK’s hospitality sector is at risk of business failure in early 2023 due to the cost of doing business crisis, according to analysis of a new survey by UKHospitality, the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) and Hospitality Ulster. The organisations’ joint Q4…
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Ofgem has announced the energy price cap will increase to £3,549 per year for dual fuel for an average household from 1st October 2022. The increase is up 80% from the current cap of £1,971, and up 178% from the £1,277 cap in March this year. The Federation of Small Business (FSB) says that energy…
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