{"id":746022,"date":"2026-08-22T09:34:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T09:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/746022\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T09:34:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T09:34:47","slug":"number-of-uk-firms-in-critical-distress-increases-by-almost-a-tenth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/746022\/","title":{"rendered":"Number of UK firms in \u2018critical distress\u2019 increases by almost a tenth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a> The number of UK businesses in \u2018critical financial distress\u2019 has jumped by almost a tenth (Peter Byrne\/PA) (PA Wire) <\/p>\n

The number of UK businesses in “critical financial distress” has jumped by almost a tenth amid particular pressure on leisure firms and hotels, according to research. <\/p>\n

The downbeat outlook for British firms comes amid a backdrop of global economic uncertainty and rising costs. <\/p>\n

Begbies Traynor Group’s (BTG) latest quarterly red flag report indicated that more firms edged closer to collapse in the second quarter of the year. <\/p>\n

It found that the number of companies considered in “critical financial distress” rose by 9% to 53,756 for the three months to the end of June, compared with a year earlier. <\/p>\n

All but one of the 22 sectors covered by the research reported an increase in firms under “critical” distress. <\/p>\n

Leisure and culture firms were the worst affected with a 27.1% increase year-on-year, while hotel and accommodation firms saw a 26.6% rise. <\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the number of sports and health clubs in critical distress rose by 21% to 980, with food and drug retailers up 18.4%. <\/p>\n

The number of businesses in “significant” financial distress, meanwhile, rose by 1.1% 674,030 firms. <\/p>\n

Julie Palmer, managing partner at BTG, said: “The persistent rate of critical and significant financial distress in the UK is a clear sign that businesses are walking a tightrope as we move through the second half of 2026. <\/p>\n

“While some may be getting used to operating in this challenging environment, it is highly unlikely that business leaders will be feeling optimistic. <\/p>\n

“Indeed, any further increases to energy costs or inflation could accelerate financial distress and many will be thinking about restructuring or refinancing activities in a bid to improve their current situation.” <\/p>\n

Ric Traynor, executive chairman at BTG, said: “Rising energy prices are likely to push inflation higher again this autumn, squeezing consumers just as borrowing costs remain elevated. <\/p>\n

“That would be a difficult backdrop for most sectors, but especially those reliant on discretionary spending, where confidence is already fragile. <\/p>\n

“Sadly, when confidence and spending remain subdued, I expect the resulting shockwaves to be felt across many other industries later this year and into 2027.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The number of UK businesses in \u2018critical financial distress\u2019 has jumped by almost a tenth (Peter Byrne\/PA) (PA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":746023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[18110,246508,187499,84,1294,18113,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-746022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-begbies-traynor","tag-british-firms","tag-btg","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-financial-distress","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/746023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}