Corporate insolvency is down, according to the latest official figures from the Insolvency Service; however, compulsory liquidations are on the increase in the short term.
In the third quarter of 2012, 3,971 compulsory liquidations and creditors’ voluntary liquidations were recorded, on a seasonally adjusted basis, throughout England and Wales.
Overall, that represents a 6.6% annual drop in corporate insolvency, with a slightly more modest 2.8% quarterly fall in the company insolvency rate.
However, it’s not all positive news, as the rate of compulsory company insolvency rose by 5.5% over the previous quarter, to reach 1,092.
Apart from this short-term problem, company liquidation as a whole seems to be improving steadily; compulsory liquidations are down 10.2% year-on-year.
Within creditors’ voluntary company liquidations, the quarter showed a 5.6% improvement over Q2 2012, and a 5.1% improvement over Q3 2011.
In the ‘other’ category – comprising receiverships, administrations and company voluntary arrangements – a particularly large drop was seen.
With just 986 ‘other’ corporate insolvencies in Q3 2012, that represents an annual drop of 21% compared with the same period of 2011.