10 September 2007
Business Failures Jump by 12% in First Half
CIFS, the London based credit insurer, says that according to figures produced for it by leading data supplier, D&B, failures amongst UK businesses jumped by nearly 12 per cent in the first half of this year compared with the same period a year ago.
A total of 48,110 businesses ceased trading between January–June – nearly 5,000 more than in the first half of 2006.
Commenting on the figures Bob Lilley, managing director of CIFS said: “Business failures are a lag indicator – and these worrying statistics take no account of possible future destabilisation from the trickle down effect of the so-called “credit crunch” and further interest rate volatility. If failures are increasing so markedly without the impact of such events it’s a sure sign that businesses must tighten their credit and cashflow management procedures to protect their balance sheet from customer default.”