The latest official figures show a double-digit percentage increase in corporate insolvency in the second quarter of 2013.
Published by the Insolvency Service, the statistics combine creditors’ voluntary liquidations and compulsory liquidations.
In the second quarter of 2013, there were 3,978 of these in total in England and Wales – a hefty 10.5% increase over the previous quarter.
However, the long-term trend is still comforting for businesses, with corporate insolvency down by 2.1% year-on-year.
Drilling down into the figures, compulsory liquidations actually fell slightly on a sequential quarterly basis, as well as compared with the previous year.
A sharp uptick in creditors’ voluntary liquidations was to blame for the double-digit sequential rise, following an unusually low quarter of activity in Q1 2013 for this type of action.
Overall, there were 961 compulsory liquidations in Q2 2013 – down by 6.6% sequentially, and by 6.5% year-on-year.
In contrast, the 3,017 creditors’ voluntary liquidations represented an annual decrease of just 0.6%, and a substantial sequential rise of 17.3%.
Companies are now likely to be watching carefully to see whether the uptick in insolvencies continues in the next quarter, or whether a return to the more favourable conditions of Q1 2013 might be achieved.
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