London manufacturers top insolvency league

In Q2 of 2012 (April to June) there were 8.36% fewer insolvencies in manufacturing but where most regions enjoyed a relatively good quarter, London lost 66 manufacturing firms – the biggest rise in any UK region. In the West Midlands there were 54 manufacturing insolvencies for Q2 this year, compared to 83 in Q1 of this year, about 35% fewer. Overall, since Q3 2010, 1,027 of the 3,586 manufacturing companies that have gone under have been industrial manufacturing companies, with the remainder including aerospace & defence, automotive, chemicals, metals and parts of transport and logistics. Across all sectors there were 11% fewer insolvencies this quarter than the previous one, but under the ongoing cloud of economic and unemployment uncertainty, experts at the business consultancy PwC say the slight reprieve in figures may not signal a long term improvement with the same pressures continuing through to 2013.