NEARLY 500 Liverpool firms are facing “significant” financial problems as they battle for survival in the recession.
The Red Flag monitoring system, operated by insolvency practitioners Begbies Traynor, found 461 firms in the city had “significant problems”, while a further 23 had “critical problems”.
The September data showed the number of companies had bounced back to July levels after an improvement in August.
Ric Traynor, executive chairman of Begbies Traynor, said: “The third- quarter Red Flag Alert statistics demonstrate that the UK may be in the eye of the storm. The well-intentioned government efforts to prop up struggling companies may provide a necessary lifeline in the short-term, but will ultimately prove futile in many cases.
“Both banks and trade creditors are also holding off wherever possible in the hope that business fortunes may improve, but Begbies Traynor supports the view of many leading economists that the UK is currently at the midpoint of a ‘W’ shaped recession.”
