More West Midlands businesses in 'significant' financial distress - report

It said in the final quarter of 2025 there were year-on-year increases of businesses in distress in Stafford of 21.5 per cent, Birmingham of 10.9 per cent, Walsall of 7.3 per cent and Wolverhampton of 1.2 per cent.

Real estate and property was the worst-affected sector in the West Midlands, with a 22.5 per cent rise, followed by construction at 5.3 per cent while there was a decrease in industrial transportation and logistics, down by 10.3 per cent.

Across the UK, the number of businesses in 'significant' financial distress increased 11.3 per cent year on year to 728,640 firms in the final quarter of 2025.

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Begbies Traynor partner Craig Povey said: "The challenge for many businesses at the moment is that, while the number of companies experiencing 'significant' distress might be slowing, the number of them that are in 'critical' distress is rising.

"There are almost 70,000 businesses across the UK experiencing severe distress and we will see some fall away.

"The years of rising costs including the effect of National insurance contributions rising, slowing consumer spending and softening of investor appetite have unfortunately taken their toll and there are only a few routes remaining for many - stumble on, find finance or wind down.

"In our line of work we have seen all eventualities cropping up in the first few weeks of the year already.

"Some significant companies have already bought out struggling businesses with great ideas, businesses have been forced to come to an end and others have found finance to restructure and move forward.

"It is an ongoing lifecycle of business' challenges and opportunities and we expect we will be discussing which direction to take next with leaders in the coming months."