Business distress levels have fallen significantly in Northern Ireland over the last quarter, suggesting some potential roots of recovery for the region’s economy, a report says.
The latest Red Flag Alert data from business advisory and insolvency group BTG shows fewer ‘critical’ and ‘significant’ instances of financial distress across the region when compared to the same period in 2025, with Northern Ireland performing well ahead of the wider UK trends.
Levels of the most serious ‘critical’ instances of distress in businesses across the region fell by 23.9% year-on-year to 710, a reduction more than 3% better than the UK average of 20.7%.
In total, 16 of the 22 sectors measured saw falls in levels of critical distress year on year.
The largest falls were in financial services (down 66.7%), industrial transportation & logistics (-55.0%), food & drug retailers (-54.1%) and utilities (-53.9%).
Thomas McKay, managing partner for BTG in Scotland and Northern Ireland (RICHARD_CAMPBELL)
Only five of 22 sectors in the north – printing & packaging, automotive, food & beverages, general retailers and wholesale – saw a rise in levels of critical financial distress compared with the previous year.
Less serious instances of ‘significant’ early financial distress, that are also measured in the data every three months, showed a fall of 8.9% from the same period in 2025.
Thomas McKay, managing partner for BTG in Scotland and Northern Ireland, said:“A fall in the levels of distress is always welcome, and to see businesses in the region outperform the UK average is particularly good news this quarter.
“When compared with the same period 12 months earlier, to have falls in both the serious and critical distress instances shows that the businesses in Norther Ireland are adjusting to the headwinds in the market better than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK.
“That doesn’t mean though that there are not areas of concern, and in particular printing and packaging was the sector hardest hit, with the highest rises in both critical and significant distress.
“Other sectors that are seeing tightening conditions and rising levels of the most serious critical instances included automotive, food and beverages, retailers and wholesale, all of which are significant employers here.”
Businesses in 18 of the 22 sectors monitored saw a drop in levels of significant distress year on year.
The most notable falls in Northern Ireland were within food & beverages (-46.0%), manufacturing (-41.6%), wholesale (-27.9%) and industrial transportation & logistics (-27.65%).