Record numbers of businesses are in significant financial distress, underscoring the fragile conditions underpinning the UK economy before Rachel Reeves’s budget later this month.
A report from Begbies Traynor, the insolvency practitioners, found that 632,756 companies were at substantial risk of failure in the three months to September, up by nearly a third compared with the same period last year and 5 per cent over the previous quarter.
Begbies Traynor measures several indicators including the amount of profit retained in a business, interest coverage ratios and the scale of contingent liabilities to reach its conclusions.
It is the highest figure that Begbies Traynor has recorded since its Red Flag Alert report was first published two decades ago, exceeding the number of firms in significant financial