Business distress is on the rise across the region, as the number of companies with overdue invoices on their books rises for an eighth consecutive month.
New data from insolvency and restructuring trade body R3, provided by CreditSafe, shows that 13,606 North East firms had failed to clear 238,951 invoices from their systems last month by the date they were due. The number of insolvency-related activities in the region last month – which includes liquidator appointments, administrator appointments and creditors’ meetings – remained steady in October, rising marginally to 60 from 59 in September.
The R3 data also revealed that there were 1,382 new businesses set up in the North East during October, which is the fourth biggest monthly total of the year so far and 12% rise on the 1,239 firms that were founded in the preceding month. R3’s latest overdue invoices data comes a month after Tyneside software firm Sage published a report showing how tens of thousands of small businesses were being put under pressure due to late payments from other firms.
