June saw rise in IT firms going bust

But overall UK business insolvency rate is on the decline, according to Experian

IT insolvencies increased in June despite a fall in the overall business insolvency rate for the UK that month.

According to market watcher Experian, there were 68 insolvencies in June 2013, compared with 60 in June 2012. But the percentage of the IT business population failing remained flat at 0.5 per cent.

However, across all UK industry the number of firms going bust dropped from 1,675 in 2012 to 1,560 this June, and the overall business insolvency rate fell from 0.08 per cent to 0.07 per cent.

This is the second consecutive month that the rate has fallen year on year – in May the rate dropped from 0.09 per cent in 2012 to 0.08 per cent.

Breaking the figures down by company size, SMBs – which were hardest hit by the recession – performed well in June, and companies with six to 10 employees, which saw the biggest fall in May, again saw an improvement in June with their insolvency rate going from 0.17 per cent in June 2012 to 0.13 per cent in June 2013.

The majority of UK regions showed improvement too. In May, seven out of 11 UK regions showed a year-on-year fall in their insolvency rate, and in June this increased to eight regions.

Max Firth, managing director of Experian Business Information Services UK and Ireland, said: “This is good news overall. We have already seen several months of low but level insolvency rates and the fact they have come down further indicates that firms are operating with more confidence than in recent years.

“However, as businesses start to think about growth and companies start to restock and rehire, the insolvency rate could well go up. This makes it all the more important for SMEs to understand who they are supplying, how quickly they pay, and think about what credit options are open to them in advance.”