The latest trade credit news and analysis for Great Britain.
Steel contractor Billington says credit insurance limited its exposure to the ISG construction failure
Steel contractor Billington was working for various ISG companies when it collapsed in September. It received an interim payment from its credit insurer prior to the formal assessment of the remaining claim. The financial impact of the failure is expected to be limited to the policy excess. As a result, Billington says its profit for 2024 was expected to beat market expectations.
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Tokio Marine publishes report on U.K. construction sector
Tokio Marine expects an improvement in the outlook for the construction sector although there are still serious challenges. GDP and inflation are expected to fall in 2025 which should benefit the sector, other benefits include the new labour Government promise of increased spending on housing, railways, schools, the NHS and removing hazardous fire cladding. Equally, construction companies will have to brace for a higher minimum wage and increased national insurance contributions.
Tokio Marine sees increased risk in the sector following the failure of ISG, the U.K.'s sixth largest construction company. ISG owed £180 million to its suppliers meaning several sub-contractors are expected to fail.
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Atradius examines the outlook for the world economy following Trump's re-election
Atradius are predicting a soft landing for the world's economy with inflation falling. The U.S. shows strong GDP growth with the Eurozone's growth much lower. Atradius is predicting that President Trump will not implement his more extreme proposals such as 60% tariffs on China, 10% on the rest of the world and the deportation of 3 million illegal immigrants. However, if Trump does implement his campaign promises, including shutting down China's access to U.S. technology and pausing monetary easing, a full trade war could follow. This is likely to lead to a fall in GDP across most economies including China and the U.S. A small number of countries such as India and Vietnam could benefit from a shift in global trade.
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Retail sales fell over Christmas
Retail sales volumes are estimated to have fallen 0.3% in December over the crucial Christmas period according to figures released by the ONS. Analysts were expecting sales to increase by 0.4%. While food sales were down, in-store retail sales rose, with clothing sales doing particularly well.
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Red Flag Alert Report finds an increase in businesses in significant financial distress
The Red Flag Alert Report published by Begbies Traynor for Q3 2024 shows an increase of 5.1% on the previous quarter of businesses that are in significant financial stress. The increase on the same period last year was 32.3%. The sectors with the largest increases were utilities (+19.3%), food and drug retailers (+10.4%), financial services (+9.94%) and bars and restaurants (+8.7%).
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Bestway Retail Ltd enters a CVA to restructure
Bestway Group, one of the U.K.'s biggest privately owned companies, has put it's retail arm, which includes Bargain Booze and Wine Rack, into a company voluntary arrangement (CVA). The CVA is intended to remove Bestway from 35 lease agreements on stores which are no longer trading and are seeking rent reductions on a further 10 stores. Bestway's other businesses, including food wholesaling and the Well pharmacy chain, are not affected. Bestway purchased Bargain Booze and Wine Rack following the collapse of Conviviality in 2018.
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Willis grows trade credit team with new hires
Willis, a WTW business, is delighted to welcome Ben Handley, Christine Cary and Amy Collins to the trade credit team.
Ben is based in Manchester and joins as Trade Credit Regional Leader, heading up teams in Manchester, Birmingham, Reading and Cardiff. Focused on growing the WTW presence in the regions. Ben joins with 15 years' experience as an insurer, most recently with Coface where he headed up the Global Solutions account team. He also spent several years with Allianz Trade in both the U.K. and Asia.
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Christine is based in London and joins from Aon as Director of Multinational Sales in the U.K. Christine has 25 years' experience in trade credit insurance including experience at credit insurers Coface and Allianz Trade.
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Amy will be working directly with Christine as she joins after graduating from University College London.
Insolvencies in November, December and January
- Gallant Engineering Ltd – Mechanical and electrical engineering
- HHGL Ltd t/a Homebase – Retailer
- Troy Central Ltd – Refurbishment contractor
- Spring Fibre Ltd – Telecommunications
- Artic Fish Products Ltd – Fish processing
- Typhoo Tea Ltd – Tea processing
- JLM Global Foods Ltd – Food manufacturers
- Yeoh Saxton-Pizzel Ltd – Food wholesalers
- Lawton Yarns Ltd – Yarn Manufacturers
- Brighton I-360 Ltd – Tourist attraction operator
- Iberica Food & Culture Ltd – Restaurant operators
- Ever Readymix Concrete and Screed Ltd – Concrete and screed supplier
- Connect Modular Ltd – Construction company
- Wharfside Industrial Ltd – Metal manufacturers
- Sto Ltd – Wall insulation specialists
- Steel Dynamics Ltd – Stainless steel stockholder and processors
- Rical Ltd – Metal manufacturers
- Kaybridge Construction (Barnet) Ltd – Groundwork specialists
Insolvencies during Q4 2024
There were 5,551 insolvencies in England and Wales in the fourth quarter of 2024. This was a decrease of 10.2% compared to the previous quarter and by 18.2% compared to the same period last year.
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