More than 600,000 businesses 'on brink'

THE number of businesses in distress is rising fast, leaving over 600,000 firms on the brink according to an influential barometer of financial pressure which was released today.

- Michael Hunter

Begbies Traynor, the insolvency accountants, described the latest picture created by its “Red Flag Report” as “particularly worrying”.

It found that the number of firms in “significant financial distress” hit 601,950 in the second quarter, up by almost 37% year-on-year and almost 9% from the first quarter.

The construction sector had the most firms in trouble, at just over 6,000, followed by support services at just under that number.