In this edition:
Suzannah Nichol, Chief Executive of Build UK told the BBC, the collapse of construction giant ISG is ‘devastating’ for the sector and could lead to other firms going under as many smaller firms in the supply chain would not receive their money. There were 2,200 job losses when the company went into administration. Owned by U.S. firm Cathexis, ISG were the sixth largest U.K. construction firm by turnover with revenues of £2.2 billion. They are the largest main contractor to fail since Carillion in 2018. The ISG chief executive Zoe Price blamed large loss-making contracts between 2018 and 2020 for the failure.
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Atradius predicts insolvencies worldwide will increase by 23% in 2024 followed by a small fall in 2025. The increase is due to a post-pandemic adjustment following the withdrawal of government support, a weak economic environment and tightening credit conditions. Countries that have experienced low insolvencies such as Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Canada, the Netherlands and U.S. are expected to show substantial increases.
In the U.K. insolvency levels are high, at 125% of pre-pandemic levels, and these are expected to remain stable.
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The parent company of TGI Fridays, Hostmore, has gone into administration putting 4,500 jobs at risk. The group’s 87 restaurants have been put up for sale and the U.K. operating company has also gone into administration.
Hostmore had attempted to buy the U.S. operator of TGI Fridays, but the deal fell through.
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Arwel Roberts, a Risk Underwriter at Tokio Marine HCC has published a report into the food and drink sector in 2024 expecting an overall improvement. Inflation in the sector has fallen from 19.2% in March 2023 to 1.5% in June 2024 as the cost-of-living crisis comes to an end. The phasing in of post-Brexit boarder checks have not caused too many problems regarding supply chain and labour shortages are easing.
Insolvencies in the sector increased 14% in 2023 but fell by 2% in for the period January to May 2024.
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Business recovery and financial advisors Begbies Traynor Group has published its Red Flag Alert report for Q3 2024. The report identifies companies in ‘significant financial distress’ and those in ‘critical financial distress’. It found that the number of businesses in significant financial distress rose compared to the previous quarter and increased over 30% on the previous year. Meanwhile those in critical financial stress decreased from the previous quarter.
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Lloyd's have given approval ‘in principle’ for Awbury Syndicate 2025 to commence underwriting credit insurance risks from January 2025. The syndicate will initially target global banks and asset managers in Europe. They will be managed by Polo Managing Agency Ltd.
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We are delighted to welcome Gary Payne and Chelcee Witkowski to the trade credit team in the U.K. Gary is based in Manchester and joins as Director of Trade Receivables and Supply Chain Finance. He has 13 years banking experience and more recently worked as a Trade Credit Underwriter for Coface and QBE.
Chelcee is also based in Manchester and will be focused on credit insurance new business. Chelcee spent 2 years as a New Business Underwriter with Atradius and has 5 years trade credit broking experience.
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There were 6,117 insolvencies in England and Wales in the third quarter of 2024. This was a decrease of 6.5% compared to the previous quarter and 1.5% compared to the same period last year.
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If you’d like to discuss these topics further, please do not hesitate to contact me.
