Trump's trial, Biden's (truly bizarre, robotic) walk and (our favourite) the bulldog puppy from Wales who chewed his new owner's toe off without the man's knowledge, leading to the discovery that he had blocked arteries in both legs and was about to die ... the bulldog saved his life (but may have acquired a taste for Welsh raretoe). It has been a crazy first quarter of the still new year.
The insolvency statistics to date have been widely reported, but we haven't had them in quarterly format so far; we in the NTI newsroom thought you would like a summary. The headlines, in non-toe digestible format are below:
• 5,747 (seasonally adjusted) registered company insolvencies, 18% higher than Q1 2022, but 4% lower than Q4 2022
• 4,739 Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidations. This accounts for 82% of all company insolvencies, the number decreased by 2% from Q4 2022, but was 12% higher than Q1 2022
• 652 Compulsory Liquidations. This is 11% lower than in Q4 2022, but nearly twice as high (92% higher) than Q1 2022
• 318 Administrations, which is 12% lower than Q4 2022 but 16% higher than Q1 2022
• 38 Company Voluntary Arrangements, being 52% higher than Q4 2022 and also 52% higher than Q1 2022
• 29,017 (seasonally adjusted) individual insolvencies were registered, 2% lower than Q4 of 2022, and 9% lower than during Q1 of 2022
• 20,246 IVAs: the numbers of IVAs registered in Q1 2023 (seasonally adjusted) decreased by 7% from Q4 2022 and was 15% lower than Q1 2022
• 7,034 Debt Relief Orders: the number of these, as seasonally adjusted, increased by 13% in Q1 2023 compared to Q4 2022 and was 8% higher than Q1 2022, which may show the effects of the new DRO hubs opening
• 1,737 Bankruptcies. The number of of these registered in Q1 2023 (seasonally adjusted) increased by 7% from Q4 2022 and was 4% higher than Q1 2022. Consisting of 1.449 debtors’ applications, which was 11% higher than Q4 2022 and 1% higher than Q1 2022, and 323 creditors’ petitions, which was 15% higher than Q4 2022 and 23% higher than Q1 2022
Many congratulations to Nicky Fisher on her ascendancy to R3 President. She made a confident start, helping us all to understand that: "Despite the quarterly fall in numbers, Quarter 1 of 2023’s corporate insolvency figures are the highest first quarter’s figures for more than a decade and the second-highest overall figures in the same period as firms find themselves caught between spiralling costs and increasing creditor pressures."
