Businesses still doing well - commercial mortgages

08 October 2007

New figures released by Experian have revealed that the number of businesses failing in the third quarter of the year fell marginally in comparison to figures from 2006.

The number of failures fell by 0.4 per cent, with figures for 2007 thus far showing a marked improvement on those seen in 2006 – with failures down by 4.6 per cent.

However, Experian has noted that 2006 was the year in which the highest ever number of annual failures were seen, according to the Retail Bulletin.

“On the surface, the continued fall in corporate failures in 2007 is positive news. But the current improvements do have to be seen against the backdrop of one of the worst ever years for business failures last year," advised Tony Pullen, managing director for Experian''s business information division.

However, Mr Pullen did note that firms with commercial mortgages in the retail sector had seen improvements over the past year, albeit cautioning that pre-Christmas performance would still be crucial to overall results for 2007.

The British Retail Consortium is expected to reveal tomorrow that retail sales rose by 1.5 per cent year-on-year in September.