New business starts-ups and insolvency-related activity were both on the rise across the UK and in Yorkshire and the Humber last month, according to the latest findings from the UK’s insolvency and restructuring trade body, R3.
The research, based on an analysis of data provided by Creditsafe, shows a 27% increase in insolvency-related activity in the region in March, with new business start-ups increasing by 12% in the same month.
Insolvency-related activity, which includes liquidator and administrator appointments and creditors’ meetings, rose across every UK region, with Northern Ireland’s increase the largest at 100% and Wales’ the smallest at 6%, on February’s figures.
Business start-up numbers also increased across the board, with the South West seeing the steepest rise in the number of new businesses, up 24%.
Dave Broadbent, chair of R3 in Yorkshire and partner at Begbies Traynor in York and Teesside, said: “While it is good news that March saw the number of start-up businesses increase in Yorkshire and across the UK, there’s a strong sense that these latest figures may well reflect the calm before the global economic storm that President Trump’s recently announced trade tariffs inevitably herald.
“SMEs are often less well protected from financial insecurity and economic turbulence than larger businesses and the fear is that the US trade tariffs and the chaos that surrounds them will be a hammer blow to many smaller, owner-managed companies.
“As global and domestic pressures, in the form of challenges such as the hike in employers’ National Insurance contributions and increase in the minimum wage, converge, SMEs in Yorkshire and Humber will be counting on support, both from government and the wider business ecosystem to help them weather this latest storm. And that includes the excellent professional help that is out there to help firms adapt and pivot where necessary so that they can seize the opportunities that still remain.”
