Quarterly Report - Q3 2024

Profit Warnings, HM Courts Filings,

and Initial Stage Winding Up Petitions.

New analysis from InfolinkGazette suggests an uncertain UK economy with the number of Profit Warnings remaining elevated, showing Profit Warning numbers are equivalent to those recorded at the height of the Pandemic.

Despite signs that the number of Insolvencies being filed has started to even out, numbers remain elevated at levels considerably higher than that seen in recent years.

Profit Warnings

Some good news: overall the number of Profit Warnings fell in the period Q2 to Q3 2024 by 20%, from 139 to 110. 

This overall number is slightly misleading, however. Much of the quarterly reduction is a result of fewer companies citing a Material Uncertainty in their filed reports. 

Excluding ‘Stand Alone Going Concern’ events, Profit Warnings remain consistently high with 51 in Q2 2024 increasing to 53 in Q3 2024; still 27% higher than in the same period prior to the pandemic. 

HM Courts filings

Q2 2024 saw a solid 22% reduction in filings, to a total of 576. Q3 2024 has brought the number back up, however, with a sharp increase to 677 in Q3 2024, just 3 fewer than that seen in the same period 2023, and just 9% lower than the highest number recorded (744 in Q1 2024).

As expected, Notices of Intention to Appoint an Administrator increased from 235 in Q2 2024 to 291 in Q3 2024, and Notice of Appointment to appoint an Administrator - which also increased from 244 in Q2 2024 to 268 in Q3 2024 - continue to make up the majority of Notices filed. 

Initial stage winding-up petitions

Q3 2024 saw a total of 1572 Initial Stage Winding Up Petitions being filed, following the trend of the slight reduction we saw in the previous quarter (from 1784 Q1 2024 to 1694 in Q2 2024). This small decrease supports our prediction that the upward trend is slowing and starting to level off. 

However, while this looks good on paper we remind you that at the start of 2022 we recorded just 398 Winding Up Petition Applications. Overall, the increase is startling.

While this appears to be good news, it is important to note that this number is still four times higher than that recorded at the start of 2022, when just 398 Winding Up Petition Applications were recorded.

S. Kaler, Head of Data at InfolinkGazette commented:

“Once again HMRC are the biggest contributor to filing Winding Up Petitions, although this quarter they have filed the lowest number of petitions since Q2 2023, as they did in Q2 this year also. This shows a positive trend but we recommend remaining cautious; overall numbers are still nearly 400% higher than we recorded at the start of 2022.” 

InfolinkGazette collates this information and provides it to our clients as soon as it is available. For more information visit our product page: https://www.techcitylabs.com/infolink-gazette or write to us at: sales@infolinkgazette.co.uk

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