Continuing North/South divide in business failures

The research by one of the UKs leading business recover specialists, Baker Tilly Restructuring and Recovery, also found that outside of the South East, the Midlands fared best with a decrease of 30% year on year, followed by Yorkshire and Humberside, with the North East, North West and East Anglia only saw minimal declines of 12%, 8% and 3% respectively.
However one notable exception to these positive figures was The South West of the UK which actually saw a significant increase in insolvencies of 31%.
 
Matt Haw, director at BTRR, said: “Our insolvency statistics show there is still have a North/South divide in terms of how businesses are faring. Given the pending government spending cuts which are expected to hit the North harder than the South, this two speed recovery is likely to widen later in the year.
 
“More than two years on from the start of the recession, which initially hit the South hardest, our statistics for the South West show hard times are still very much in evidence. However, London and the South East are proving to be bouncing back far quicker than the rest with a 37% decrease in insolvency numbers year on year, compared with only a 14% decrease overall elsewhere in the country.” added Haw
The figures also show that in the three months leading to Christmas, the numbers of administrations actually rose in all parts of the country compared with the three months to September with London and Yorkshire and Humberside being the only exceptions.
EMI Records was forced into Administration by its bankers Citigroup 
 
Matt Haw went on to say: “By comparing the figures for the fourth quarter of 2010 to the previous quarter; there has been an overall rise in companies falling into administration across the country with only London and Yorkshire and Humberside at showing any recovery in this period.
 
“It is difficult to pinpoint why these areas have proven more resilient in contrast to the rest of England but traditionally the Capital is fastest to recover compared to the rest of the country. The double impact of the extreme weather conditions in Q4 coupled with the spending cuts starting to dig in might explain the increased number of business failures in the regions.
 
“We expect to see this upward trend in insolvencies to increase, but not to a significant degree, in the next quarter.”