UK’s ‘zombie’ firms will be wiped out by interest rates, says insolvency specialist

The Insolvency Service reported that 2,552 companies filed for insolvency in May, 40% more than a year earlier. Photograph: Nathan Stirk/Getty Images

Britain’s debt-laden “zombie” companies are expected to be wiped out by the surge in interest rates, an insolvency specialist has predicted.

Begbies Traynor, a business recovery and financial consultancy, has said all of the nation’s zombies – companies struggling to service debts that have avoided bankruptcy through cheap borrowing costs – will have failed by the end of next year.