PwC: Hospitality and leisure sector has been hit hard in the past year

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

The hospitality and leisure (H&L) sector has had one of the worst  sectors in the twelve months to the end of September compared to the same period the year before.  The latest PwC analysis of corporate insolvency numbers shows in total, there were 1,464 insolvencies in the H&L sector in the past twelve months compared to 1,304 in the same period the year before. Despite this rise, H&L insolvencies in Q3 2012 were down by 15% compared to Q2, and were down by 11% compared to the same quarter last year.

London continues to have the highest number of insolvencies with 851 in Q3, and the region showed a 15% decrease in volume compared to the same quarter last year. Compared to the previous quarter in 2012, London insolvencies in Q3 were down by 6%.

The South West saw a 33% fall in insolvencies in Q3 compared to the same quarter last year, which was the biggest year on year improvement of all the regions. The North East & Cumbria was the region that showed the biggest improvement compared to the previous quarter of this year, with a 58% fall in insolvencies.

David Chubb, PwC business recovery partner and hospitality and leisure specialist comments:

“We are seeing that parts of the pub sector are coming out of recession and there are some good news stories, but behind the figures it is still very clear that across the sector there are both winners and losers. Under-invested pubs and over capacity will continue to be issues and consequently further closures are inevitable, but this has a positive impact for the survivors,” he said.