New figures show that for the fourth month in a row, the South East's agricultural industry has seen a drop in the number of companies at risk of insolvency.
The Southern Committee of R3, which brings together insolvency practitioners from local accountancy, legal and recovery firms, has revealed that the agricultural industry is the second best performing sector in the region with only 18.3 per cent of companies at high risk or caution of insolvency.
Agriculture was one of only five industries in the South East to experience a decrease in the amount of companies at risk this month. Since April 2015, the amount of agricultural companies at risk decreased by 6.39 per cent, and may be an early sign that this year's harvest is starting off well. Nationally, the risk for the sector fell by 3.33 per cent.
The South East's agricultural industry also performed better than the UK's average this month. Whilst the numbers of agricultural companies identified as high risk or caution of insolvency dropped by 0.94 per cent in the South East, the industry saw an increase of 0.4 per cent across the whole of the UK.
Andrew Watling, chairman of the Southern Committee of R3 and a partner at Quantuma in Southampton, said:
"It is encouraging to see that the upturn in the agricultural industry in the South East has continued from earlier in the year and it paints a positive picture for the rest of the summer and autumn. Its performance against the UK average might be down to the amount of oilseed rape that we grow in this region, the harvest of which began in July, ahead of many other crops."
The marine industry, retail, tourism operators and extraction petroleum and gas also saw a decrease in the percentage of companies at risk.
On the other hand, pubs in the South East are showing the biggest increase of companies at risk, with 3.03 per cent more companies this month listed as high risk or at caution. This is in contrast to the UK-wide figures that show, on average, a decrease in the number of companies at risk.
Andrew Watling adds:
"The increase in the number of pubs that are struggling this month is a cause for concern, especially when compared to the average across the UK. For any businesses having a hard time, we urge them to seek professional advice before it is too late."
The research, compiled using Bureau van Dijk’s ‘Fame’ database of company information, tracks the proportion of businesses across key sectors that have a heightened risk of entering insolvency in the next year.
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