© Andy Rain/EPALarry ElliottMore than 47,000 UK businesses started 2024 on the edge of collapse
The latest Begbies Traynor "Red Flag Alert" report shows the figure for Q4 2023 was up 25.9 per cent on 37,772 the prior quarter.
It left more 47,477 businesses near collapse in the UK at the start of 2024. This represents the second consecutive period where critical financial distress has grown by around a quarter.
A total of 539,900 UK businesses are now in 'significant' financial distress, 12.9 per cent higher than Q3 2023 and 5.6 per cent more year-on-year than the fourth quarter of 2022 (511,093).
Every sector of the 22 covered by Red Flag Alert experience critical financial distress increase on the prior period. Of the 22, 18 experienced at least double-digit growth.
In Q4 2023, critical financial distress grew rapidly in the construction (+32.6 per cent), health & education (+41.3 per cent), real estate & property services (+24.7 per cent) and support services (+23.6 per cent) sectors.
Serious concerns also grow over the construction and real estate sectors which still represent nearly 30 per cent of all businesses in critical financial distress.
By region outside of London, the South East had the most businesses in critical distress (7,884), followed by Midlands (5,696), North West (4,951), Yorkshire (3,303), South West (3,271), East of England (2,960), Scotland (2,245), Wales (1,360), North East (836) and Northern Ireland (747).
Comment: The proof of this can be seen in the UK's once lucrative and bustling town centres which now host with boarded up store fronts.
Julie Palmer, partner at Begbies Traynor, said: "As we saw in the previous quarter, the strain being placed on companies has extended well beyond the consumer facing businesses with bellwether sectors, like construction and real estate, now in serious jeopardy as over 15,000 businesses face high risk of failure.
"Sadly, for tens of thousands of British businesses who should be looking ahead to 2024 with some degree of optimism, the new year will bring a fight for survival as the debt storm that has been brewing for years looks like it is breaking across the country."
Comment: It's likely that the looming financial collapse is one driving factor behind the surge in warmongering from the Western establishment, which, notably, will also hasten its demise: Record number of British haulage businesses going bust
Ric Traynor, executive chairman of Begbies Traynor, added: "Unfortunately, there are no signs of an easy fix and, with geo-political uncertainty continuing to rise and a hike in the national wage around the corner, the backdrop is hardly improving for an economy that is still firmly in recovery mode post-pandemic.
"For many businesses, I fear soldiering on in this environment will prove to be one step too far and I expect thousands of debt-laden businesses to start to fail this year."
Meanwhile, the large corporations and banks seem to get bailed out everytime. Their tax bill is insignificant compared to what they earn. Some large rich US corporations actually get money from gov't to help with their tax 'burden'. These NWO darlings are getting all the help they need and all those not in the club will own nothing, not a business or anything.