Berkshire has seen a rise in the number of insolvencies after a dip in June, and remains much higher than last year.
According to R3, the UK’s insolvency and restructuring trade body, the figures showed an increase in insolvency-related activities from 199 in June to 224 in July. These include administrator and liquidator appointments together with creditors’ meetings. The figure was a significantly lower 168 in July 2022.
R3 has again warned of ongoing economic instability fuelling business distress, following its analysis of data about insolvencies and start-ups supplied by business intelligence provider Creditsafe.
Its findings also revealed the number of firms in liquidation who owed money to their creditors in the South East had reached 402 – up from 237 in June, and close to May’s figure of 404.
R3’s Southern & Thames Valley region includes Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight.
The South East figure is the highest for any part of the UK apart from Greater London.
Garry Lee, chair of R3’s Southern and Thames Valley region, said: “Persistent economic volatility, including inflation and 14-year high interest rates, is continuing to show itself in insolvency related activity.
“Interest rates are continuing to track higher, with each percentage rise likely to drag more businesses into difficulty – especially those, say in retail, which operate on high volumes and low profit margins.
“The figures for July this year in the South East are significantly higher than June’s, which is beginning to look like a 2023 outlier – and remain a quarter higher than the same month in 2022. This demonstrates that we remain at the epicentre of a business crisis across all sectors.
“The spectre of further interest rates rises looms large and trading across the board remains difficult to predict as many business, including big high street names, face a critical time as we hit the traditional summer slowdown.”
Garry, who is an associate director in the recovery and restructuring services department at professional services group Evelyn Partners’ Southampton office, added: “It is crucial that businesses across the South and Thames Valley seek expert help, guidance and support at the very first sign of business distress.
“This situation can become irrevocable quickly and some form of insolvency procedure is therefore inevitably required.
“Warning signs include maxed-out borrowing, cash flow problems, supply issues, late wages, delays in paying suppliers and HMRC chasing tax payments.
“This means it is time to take advice from a qualified and regulated source, before matters become terminal – when liabilities exceed assets and a company can be said to be insolvent.
“Don’t let your business become a statistic. The earlier issues are addressed, the more options become available for a better outcome.”
The latest Creditsafe data also showed a slight fall in the number of companies with invoices that had gone past their payment deadline from 58,258 in June to 58,135 in July. The year-high remains 60,831 in February.
Meanwhile, the number of late payments made by companies owing money stood at 497,402 in July compared with 494,094 in June.
The number of start-ups in the South East increased slightly from 5,653 in June to 5 874 in July although this was some way short of the 12-month high of 6,948 in March.
Creditsafe is a multinational business intelligence provider with services including company credit scores and credit report information.
