UK businesses get better at paying bills
A new report shows that, from April to June this year, UK businesses paid their bills significantly faster than last year.
The analysis by Experian shows that during Q2 2010 bills were paid on average 20.99 days late, compared to 23.61 days late in Q2 2009.
Experian’s Joe Myers explained that, despite remaining among the slowest payers, “the largest companies have improved significantly over the last year”.
This improvement in cash-flow, says Experian, is good news especially for smaller companies.
Some trends highlighted in the research include:
• Micro businesses led the improvements – from 21.01 days to 18.32 days. This was followed by the largest companies – from 40.48 days to 35.43 days.
• The biggest improvements came from the IT sector – from 26.08 days to 14.27
• The Property sector pays its bills the slowest, averaging 33.06 days beyond terms, over 13 days slower than the national average.
• The South East saw the biggest improvement in payment performance, going from 20.08 to 16.32 days beyond agreed terms on average.
• Businesses in the South West paid fastest – 15.83 days late.
• Scotland saw late payment times worsen – from 23.38 in Q2 2009 to 23.65 in Q2 2010.
• Averaging 25.16 days beyond terms, the North West overtook London to become the slowest-paying region.