The number of business insolvencies fell by 13.4% in Q3, on the same period last year, according to the latest Equifax ‘Business Failures’ report.

The wholesale sector witnessed the best quarter-on-quarter performance, down 19.4% year-on-year.

The services sector saw a year-on-year fall of 11.8% in the quarter and after a rise in Q2 insolvencies.

Transport & communications fared the worst of the sectors measured, with a 13.6% increase in failures quarter-on-quarter.  

Meanwhile, Scotland was the best performing region in Q3 with a 33.1% year-on-year drop in insolvencies.

Nic Beishon, head of Equifax Commercial Information Solutions, says: “There is no question that the economy is still fragile, and there is much anticipation about the impact of the Government Spending Review and the VAT increase in January.

“But we are hugely encouraged by our latest analysis of the Business Failures data which suggests a really close focus by all sorts of organisations to keep control on their costs, tackle late payments and bad debts and manage their cashflow.”

See Recruiter, 13 October, for news of administrations in the recruitment sector.