The number of businesses failing is set to fall this year, said financial services group BDO Stoy Hayward, according to a report. It would be the first fall in numbers since 1997.
The report also said bankruptcy rate is still 20% higher than the lows of 1997, and it remains higher than at any time between 1995 and 1997.
According to the report, BDO believes the number of failures will rise over the next two years, reaching their highest levels since the early 1990s. It predicts business failures will fall 5.4% in total this year, following a 6.6% decline in the second quarter.
Manufacturing is also said to be staging a comeback, with a cheaper pound helping failures fall by 10%. According to the report, this still leaves 40 manufacturers folding this year, a rate more than twice the national average.
