23 December, 2010
This is according to Equifax which has taken a snapshot of business failures in October/November to see how the private sector is faring in the continuing difficult trading conditions.
The Equifax Business Failures snapshot for October/November 2010 shows an overall drop of 4.6% in businesses going under compared to the same period in 2009.
The sector most in the spotlight during the Christmas trading period - Retail - has seen a small, but no less important, 1.8% drop in failures. This follows a 15.6% year on year drop for Quarter 3 2010 compared to Quarter 3 2009 for Retail and a 5.3% fall in failures for Quarter 3 compared to Quarter 2 2010.
"It has been incredibly encouraging to see almost all sectors of business and industry fare well during 2010" confirmed Neil Munroe, external affairs director, Equifax. "And October/November appear to be no exception to the downward trend in failures which we believe can be attributed to a very clear focus on costs as well as strong cash flow management.
"However, through no fault of their own, many commercial enterprises are likely to experience real challenges in the last month of the year, thanks to the big freeze.
"It has already been well reported that retailers are concerned about the impact of the bad weather on Christmas sales and this is likely to have a knock-on effect across other sectors such as Manufacturing, Wholesale and Transport & Communications.
"The recovery that has been achieved against last year's tough conditions could be severely undermined in December."
Source: Mortgage Introducer
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