Business failures on the rise says Equifax

The business information provider's Mark Nuttall said: "This new report continues the disappointing trend we saw start in the summer. Manufacturing has had another tough quarter with the number of firms going bust still growing in Quarter 3. The reality is businesses are continuing to find it much harder to keep their heads above water, as the economy fails to pick-up." The North East appears to be the most resilient region across the country this year, with a Quarter on Quarter drop in failures of 14.6%, followed by the East of England at 10%. Wales recorded the greatest increase in failures at 37.1%, closely followed by Scotland with a 34.1% increase in failures. However, the numbers affected in these regions are relatively small when compared with other areas of the country where the overall numbers are much larger. "The importance of monitoring existing customer performance cannot be over-stated to ensure businesses weather the unpredictable conditions that exist at the moment," concluded Nuttall.