Fewer Scottish firms are going bust as Scotland continues to improve its insolvency rate more strongly than most of the UK.
The latest business insolvency index from Experian shows "a continued stable picture" across the UK, with 1723 companies, or 0.09% of the business population, failing in August – the same rate as in July, though slightly worse than in August last year when 0.08%, or 1563 companies, failed.
"Building on improvement since January 2012, Scottish firms continued to do well in August, with an insolvency rate of 0.06% compared to 0.09% in August 2011," says Experian.
"This represented a slight increase on its lowest-ever figure in July, but was still the most improved out of the regions in August compared to a year ago."
Notable UK improvements came from mid-sized firms, where insolvencies in the 26-50 employee bracket fell from 0.21% last August to 0.15% this August – their lowest rate since December 2007 – and firms with 11-25 staff, down from 0.21% to 0.08%.
Max Firth, managing director at Experian Business Information Services, said: "We've seen real pockets of improvement, such as in Scotland and Yorkshire, which have been sustained over a number of months now."
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