South East insolvencies down but remain uneven, says R3

Published by

Daniel Face

Neil Stewart, chair of R3’s Southern and Thames Valley region

Insolvency-related activity across the South East has fallen significantly this month according to industry trade body R3 with data from Creditsafe.

The region saw 225 instances of such activity in December 2023 – including administrator and liquidator appointments as well as creditors’ meetings – but only 147 this January, a decrease of 35 per cent.

However, this isn’t the full story – the number of firms in liquidation which owe money to creditors has shot up 63 per cent to 383 in the past month, and the South East remains the sixth worst region in the UK for insolvency-related activities.

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Neil Stewart, chairman of R3’s Southern and Thames Valley region, said: “Inflation has continued to fall and we can remain cautiously optimistic.

“The economic challenges haven’t gone away, though, and it’s particularly tough for hotels, hospitality and leisure – a sector which traditionally faces a quiet first quarter of the year – and for construction, which continues to feel the effects of external factors.”

Neil added that the relatively optimistic figures for January shouldn’t mask the fact that many companies are under severe pressure.

“The first step in tackling mounting problems which have no obvious solution, is to pick up the phone to a restructuring and insolvency expert.”

Daniel Face

Born and raised in Berkshire, Dan fell into journalism after completing his bachelor’s degree in English at UCL. Writing for The Business Magazine and local Biz News sites has given him the opportunity to chat with all manner of small business owners and share their success stories with a wider audience. Outside of work, Dan enjoys live music, board games and quiz shows, and is making a slow but persistent effort to learn Spanish.