Company late bill payment period falls in UK according to survey
According to information services company Experian, businesses improved their late payment performances during October with an average of 20.99 days beyond the agreed terms taken by businesses to pay their bills.
The improvement is compared to the average of 21.54 days taken in September and is much improve from a year ago when the average in October 2008 was 23.20 days.
This was the quickest average time period for businesses in the UK to settle their bulls since 2008.
The area with the largest overall improvement over the month was in the South West falling by 4.0 to 16.39 days with the IT sector recording the highest year-on-year improvement in payment rates falling 46.6 per cent to 16.58 days.
In October, the biggest culprit for lat payment was the postal and telecommunications sector.
Joe Myers, head of commercial credit at Experian’s Business Information division, said: “As a whole, this is quickest that UK businesses have paid their bills since April 2008, a potential sign of increasing confidence as firms feel less inclined to hoard cash. However, these are still early days and businesses still need to be cautious and pay close attention to payment performance data by using resources, such as Experian’s Payment Performance Scheme.”