Insolvency fears drop for 2023

The figures come from new research by Evelyn Partners. Corporate insolvencies are at a four-year-high according to the latest government data. However, with prospects of insolvencies easing, the research could indicate that these figures are reaching their peak.

The research of 500 business owners with revenues of £5m upwards indicates that business confidence has remained largely stable over the past nine months, with 77% of businesses confident they will survive an upcoming recession, in line with the 78% that reported the same confidence in September 2022.

This stable outlook comes despite the challenges that have arisen in the intervening period, including sticky inflation, ongoing rate rises, toughening lending criteria and higher taxes.

Businesses now seem to be in a stronger position to weather this uncertainty and have rowed back from plans to batten down the hatches.

In September 2022, over half (52%) of businesses expected1 to embark on a round of redundancies, this has now dropped to just over one in three (36%).

Almost one in two (48%) businesses thought it likely they would need to withdraw from a key market in September 2022, a risk that has since dropped to just less than one in three1 (32%).

Despite this stable outlook, financing and the cost of funding remains a significant risk and challenge for UK businesses.