Companies across the North East are being warned to brace for difficult times ahead, amid rising numbers of firms experiencing ‘significant’ or early distress.
Business rescue and recovery group Begbies Traynor has published its latest Red Flag Alert data covering the third quarter of 2022, indicating a 4% jump in the number of businesses in ‘significant’ distress in the region compared to the second quarter of the year. The figures also reveal an 8% increase on the same period last year.
The new data shows that in the three months to September, almost 12,000 firms in the North East displayed symptoms of this type of early stage distress – which refers to companies that have financial problems such as minor county court judgements of less than £5,000 filed against them. The regional figures mirror the national picture, which reveals that more than 600,000 firms suffered significant distress in the last quarter.
