There have been 3,573 manufacturing insolvencies since Q1 2011, PwC figures reveal, although the sector did see a fall in the last quarter of 2012.
Despite Q4 producing the fewest insolvencies of 2012, manufacturing remains one of the worst insolvency affected sectors. In total there were 1,804* manufacturing insolvencies in 2011 compared with 1,769 in 2012.
By comparison, construction was worse hit over the last 24 months with 5,580 insolvencies although it too showed improvement in Q4 2012.
Of the total of manufacturing sector insolvencies since January 2011, 983 were industrial manufacturing firms with the rest including automotive, aerospace and defence, chemicals, metals, transport and logistics and consumer goods manufacturers.
Philip Hines, PwC Deals & Industrial Products partner, said: “The reduction in manufacturing insolvencies is encouraging but with rising raw material costs and no imminent signs of a material economic recovery, the outlook remains tough for those companies already experiencing financial stress.”
Q4 2012 for manufacturing was slightly better at 425 with the lowest number of insolvencies for the year, but this was 5.7% up on the same quarter last year which totalled 402. The regions most affected in the last three months of 2012 include the North East & Cumbria which suffered 23 in Q4 2012 compared to 11 the previous quarter.
* One firm can have several numbers and types of insolvencies within it. The numbers quoted in this article relate to the incidences of insolvency rather than the number of companies.
