Region sees rise in business failures

Data group Experian said UK business insolvencies fell 8.7 per cent in October, pointing to an “increasingly stable” picture among companies.

Just 0.08 per cent of the business population – 1,685 companies –failed in October, compared with 0.10 per cent in October 2011.

However, failures among Yorkshire companies worsened, with a 64 per cent increase on a year earlier. Yorkshire reported the biggest percentage increase in company insolvencies out of any UK region, with 177 business failures.

That meant 0.14 per cent of Yorkshire’s business population failed in October, up from 0.09 per cent a year earlier.

Nationally, the greatest improvement in the average rate of insolvencies was seen by firms with 101 to 500 employees – their insolvency rate fell from 0.21 per cent in October 2011 to 0.15 per cent.

But firms with more than 501 employees saw an increase from 0.13 per cent to 0.2 per cent.