Failures fall to three-year low

THE RATE of company failures has fallen to its lowest since the start of the recession, according to figures published yesterday.

A survey from Trade Indemnity, the credit insurance group, found there were 1,190 business failures in the third quarter of the year, down by almost a third on the comparable period in 1992.

In the depths of the recession there were 2,100 failures in the third quarter of 1991.

Bill Simpson, of Trade Indemnity, said: 'This is the lowest quarterly failure total since the third quarter of 1990, which marked the entrance of the UK into recession.'

Official figures compiled by Touche Ross, the accountants and management consultants, show that receiverships in September reached their lowest level since 1989.

Only 184 administrative receivership and administration orders were recorded in the London Gazette and Edinburgh Gazette during the month, fewer than half the total recorded for September 1992.

In the three-month period there were 675 appointments compared with 1,167 last year.

In contrast to the economic message from the company figures, seasonally adjusted data for housing starts showed a 4 per cent decline in the three months to August compared with the previous three-month period, while housing completions fell by 11 per cent.

However, the figure of 14,900 housing starts in August compared with 12,500 a year earlier. In the three months to August 46,500 dwellings were started, a gain of 11 per cent on the same three months a year earlier.