Norfolk insolvency rates ‘are set to rise’

Posted 07/01/2010

Companies in Norfolk could be faced with a larger risk of insolvency in 2010 than they were last year, according to an expert.

Dr Jerome Healy, lecturer in finance and financial management at the University of East Anglia, has stated that insolvency practitioners are expecting the rate of corporate failures to be “far higher” in the coming year than they were in 2009.

He told the Eastern Daily Press that such trends were common in economies exiting recession, adding that this is also likely to make workers in the area more susceptible to redundancy.

This is borne out by figures from Norfolk’s Jobcentre Plus branches which show that joblessness increased sharply following the insolvency of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.

Dr Healy’s prediction tallies with that of accountancy firm Woods Squared last month, which suggested that as many as 130,000 businesses are currently in danger of going under across the UK.

It said that a lack of proper credit control among smaller firms, as well as “the scourge of late payment”, will contribute to this.