Firms hanging on till Christmas
Article Date: Nov 06 2008
There may be trouble ahead
Companies facing insolvency are waiting until after Christmas to make hard decisions about their business, according to Tim Carter, head of insolvency at law firm Stevens & Bolton.
‘There’s a real feeling that people are hanging on till Christmas, and I’m not just talking about the retail sector,’ says Carter. ‘We’re expecting to receive instructions in January either from people wanting to restructure their debt or wind their business up.’
Carter, who has seen a marked increase in enquiries from companies worried about going bust, adds that he does not expect to see a ‘drastic take-off’ in corporate insolvencies in figures due to be announced tomorrow.
‘I think we’ll see a similar percentage increase as we did last quarter,’ he states.
Corporate insolvencies in the second quarter of this year hit 3,560, an increase of 11.6 per cent on the previous quarter but still below their ten-year high of 4,291 in the final quarter of 2002.
‘It seems to me the figures [for the third quarter] are not going to be anywhere near as high as what’s been predicted in some parts of the media,’ Carter concludes.
