The latest trade credit news and analysis for Great Britain.

Steel contractor Billington says credit insurance limited its
exposure to the ISG construction failure

Steel contractor Billington was working for various ISG
companies when it collapsed in September. It received an interim
payment from its credit insurer prior to the formal assessment of
the remaining claim. The financial impact of the failure is
expected to be limited to the policy excess. As a result,
Billington says its profit for 2024 was expected to beat market
expectations.

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Tokio Marine publishes report on U.K. construction sector

Tokio Marine expects an improvement in the outlook for the
construction sector although there are still serious challenges.
GDP and inflation are expected to fall in 2025 which should benefit
the sector, other benefits include the new labour Government
promise of increased spending on housing, railways, schools, the
NHS and removing hazardous fire cladding. Equally, construction
companies will have to brace for a higher minimum wage and
increased national insurance contributions.

Tokio Marine sees increased risk in the sector following the
failure of ISG, the U.K.’s sixth largest construction company.
ISG owed £180 million to its suppliers meaning several
sub-contractors are expected to fail.

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Atradius examines the outlook for the world economy following
Trump’s re-election

Atradius are predicting a soft landing for the world’s
economy with inflation falling. The U.S. shows strong GDP growth
with the Eurozone’s growth much lower. Atradius is predicting
that President Trump will not implement his more extreme proposals
such as 60% tariffs on China, 10% on the rest of the world and the
deportation of 3 million illegal immigrants. However, if Trump does
implement his campaign promises, including shutting down
China’s access to U.S. technology and pausing monetary easing,
a full trade war could follow. This is likely to lead to a fall in
GDP across most economies including China and the U.S. A small
number of countries such as India and Vietnam could benefit from a
shift in global trade.

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Retail sales fell over Christmas

Retail sales volumes are estimated to have fallen 0.3% in
December over the crucial Christmas period according to figures
released by the ONS. Analysts were expecting sales to increase by
0.4%. While food sales were down, in-store retail sales rose, with
clothing sales doing particularly well.

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Red Flag Alert Report finds an increase in businesses in
significant financial distress

The Red Flag Alert Report published by Begbies Traynor for Q3
2024 shows an increase of 5.1% on the previous quarter of
businesses that are in significant financial stress. The increase
on the same period last year was 32.3%. The sectors with the
largest increases were utilities (+19.3%), food and drug retailers
(+10.4%), financial services (+9.94%) and bars and restaurants
(+8.7%).

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Bestway Retail Ltd enters a CVA to restructure

Bestway Group, one of the U.K.’s biggest privately owned
companies, has put it’s retail arm, which includes Bargain
Booze and Wine Rack, into a company voluntary arrangement (CVA).
The CVA is intended to remove Bestway from 35 lease agreements on
stores which are no longer trading and are seeking rent reductions
on a further 10 stores. Bestway’s other businesses, including
food wholesaling and the Well pharmacy chain, are not affected.
Bestway purchased Bargain Booze and Wine Rack following the
collapse of Conviviality in 2018.

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Willis grows trade credit team with new hires

Willis, a WTW business, is delighted to welcome Ben Handley,
Christine Cary and Amy Collins to the trade credit team.

Ben is based in Manchester and joins as Trade Credit Regional
Leader, heading up teams in Manchester, Birmingham, Reading and
Cardiff. Focused on growing the WTW presence in the regions. Ben
joins with 15 years’ experience as an insurer, most recently
with Coface where he headed up the Global Solutions account team.
He also spent several years with Allianz Trade in both the U.K. and
Asia.

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Christine is based in London and joins from Aon as Director of
Multinational Sales in the U.K. Christine has 25 years’
experience in trade credit insurance including experience at credit
insurers Coface and Allianz Trade.

See Christine’s announcement
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Amy will be working directly with Christine as she joins after
graduating from University College London.

Insolvencies in November, December and January


Gallant Engineering Ltd – Mechanical and electrical
engineering

HHGL Ltd t/a Homebase – Retailer

Troy Central Ltd – Refurbishment contractor

Spring Fibre Ltd – Telecommunications

Artic Fish Products Ltd – Fish processing

Typhoo Tea Ltd – Tea processing

JLM Global Foods Ltd – Food manufacturers

Yeoh Saxton-Pizzel Ltd – Food wholesalers

Lawton Yarns Ltd – Yarn Manufacturers

Brighton I-360 Ltd – Tourist attraction operator

Iberica Food & Culture Ltd – Restaurant
operators

Ever Readymix Concrete and Screed Ltd – Concrete and
screed supplier

Connect Modular Ltd – Construction company

Wharfside Industrial Ltd – Metal manufacturers

Sto Ltd – Wall insulation specialists

Steel Dynamics Ltd – Stainless steel stockholder and
processors

Rical Ltd – Metal manufacturers

Kaybridge Construction (Barnet) Ltd – Groundwork
specialists

Insolvencies during Q4 2024

There were 5,551 insolvencies in England and Wales in the fourth
quarter of 2024. This was a decrease of 10.2% compared to the
previous quarter and by 18.2% compared to the same period last
year.

See government press release arrow_forward

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