Scots insolvencies reach a record high

Group Business Editor

Thursday 26 July 2012

SCOTTISH corporate insolvencies hit a record high in the three months to June against the back-drop of deepening UK recession.

lacking SPARK: Manufacturers predict a further decline in total orders in the coming months. Picture: Colin Mearns

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Ian McConnell Business Editor

Figures published yesterday by the Accountant in Bankruptcy showed 420 Scottish companies went bust in the quarter to June, a rise of 9.1% on the preceding quarter and 22.4% higher than in the same period last year.

Bryan Jackson, corporate recovery partner at accountancy firm PKF, said: "After the record number of corporate failures in the first quarter, I seriously doubted that the figures could get any higher and yet here we are facing corporate meltdown. The numbers are rocketing and there is little hope of things improving. We have seen long established, well-known, businesses collapse in the last year."David Watt, executive director of the Institute of Directors in Scotland, believes a tougher approach by HM Revenue & Customs to collecting tax owed is pushing up corporate insolvencies. Seeing signs that HMRC was particularly chasing smaller companies, Mr Watt said: "HMRC should be chasing some of the bigger companies and wealthy individuals, rather than the small fry."He thinks the approach of banks is also driving up insolvencies, declaring they are looking for their money back or lending it on much less favourable terms, and that they should take a longer-term view.Joanne Gillies, partner and expert in contentious insolvency at law firm Pinsent Masons, said: "Patience seems to be running out for those businesses which have been given time to trade their way out of trouble – either by financiers or other parties such as HMRC."The insolvency numbers emerged as a survey from the Confederation of British Industry in Scotland showed a renewed slide in Scottish manufacturers' total new orders in the latest three months. The decline in domestic orders accelerated, amid the grim UK back-drop, and new export order growth slowed.Electronics and mechanical and vehicle engineering firms appeared in good shape in the survey, but the food and drink sector was weak.Data from the Office for National Statistics showed the renewed UK recession deepened in the three months to June. UK gross domestic product tumbled 0.7% quarter-on-quarter, as output of the dominant services sector fell 0.1%, construction shrank by 5.2%, and manufacturing output dropped 1.4%. The latest fall in GDP, which was much worse than the 0.2% decline forecast by the City, followed respective falls of 0.4% in the fourth quarter of last year and 0.3% in the opening three months of 2012. It left GDP 0.8% lower than in the second quarter of last year.Scottish manufacturers in the CBI survey predict a further decline in total new orders and domestic orders in the coming three months. And they anticipate a sharp slowdown in export order growth.CBI Scotland director Iain McMillan said the results of the survey were disappointing, but "not altogether surprising given that Scotland, as well as the UK as a whole, is back in recession".Scottish manufacturers did signal growth in overall output in the latest three months, after a dip in the preceding period. And the survey signals Scottish manufacturing employment rose further in the latest three months, albeit at a much slower pace.Mr Jackson cited low consumer demand and confidence and the eurozone financial crisis as factors pushing up Scottish corporate insolvencies. And he voiced fears that the sheer number of corporate collapses during the downturn would hamper any future recovery.He said: "The concern is that when the recession does end – and there is little sign at the moment – will we have the infrastructure to grow Scotland's economy? "With such a depletion of the business stockpile, it is entirely predictable growth will be slow because there will be fewer companies to grow the economy. Although I would like to think that the situation could not deteriorate any further, the reality is that it is difficult to see anything other than more hardship."Compulsory liquidations totalled 348 in the three months to June, up 13.4% quarter-on-quarter and 38.6% higher than in the same period of last year. Creditors' voluntary liquidations fell 10.1% quarter-on-quarter and 29.5% year-on-year, to 62, in the three months to June.Ms Gillies said: "It is notable it is compulsory liquidations that have shown the most significant increase. "That would suggest creditors are reluctant to accept further delays in payment in a market which shows no signs of improving. This means we'll see more disputes played out in the courts."

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Scots insolvencies reach a record high

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