Deloitte: Retail administrations increase

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

The number of retailers falling into administration in 2012 increased by 6% compared with 2011, according to research from Deloitte, the business advisory firm. In total, 1,833 businesses went into administration in 2012, compared with 2,010 last year, a fall of 9%. Almost all of the sectors tracked in our analysis saw a decline in the number of business failures this year, including some of those sectors most affected by the economic difficulties of the past five years.

Lee Manning, restructuring services partner at Deloitte, commented:

“These figures are a stark reminder of the difficulties which continue to face the high street.” he said.  “Constrained household budgets and the structural challenges facing the sector mean it is certain that we will see further distress next year. Christmas trading appears to have been reasonable, though not spectacular and not enough to prevent insolvencies in the first quarter of 2013. ”

There were 21% fewer administrations in the hospitality and leisure sector (171 vs. 216), 9% in manufacturing (284 vs. 311) and 7% in property and construction (426 vs. 457). Outside of retail, only financial services and the mining & energy sectors saw notable increases (47 vs. 30 and 28 vs. 22 respectively).