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UK Company Liquidation Statistics - Indices for predicting Bankruptcies and Liquidations
Report Date: 26/04/2025
COMPANY STATUS
There are about 5 million registered companies in the UK. Of which 4.9 million are active and 100 thousand are in administrations or due to be liquidated. "Active" companies include "dormant" companies of which there are about 600 thousand.
The table below shows the breakdown of companies on the Companies House register by status (active, administration, in liquidation etc) as at 01-Apr-2024 and how many of those remain on the register a year later. Calculating the ratio of companies that came off the register give the "Liquidation Ratio".
Not suprisingly, companies that are in administration or in the process of being liquidated have very high (~99%) Liquidation Rates. Interestingly companies that are Active but have received a "Proposal to Strike Off" from Companies House have a relatively high 12 month Liquidation Rate at about 60%. Companies classified as "Active" have a 12 month liquidation rate close to 10%, but this varies over time.
Number of Companies by Status
| Status on 01-Apr-2024 | Number of Companies on register on 01-Apr-2024 A |
Number of same Companies still on register on 01-Apr-2025 (any status) B |
Number of Companies that liquidated A-B |
12 month Liquidation Rate (A-B)/A |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active | 5,098,101 | 4,545,561 | 552,540 | 10.84% |
| Active - Proposal to Strike off | 316,179 | 161,841 | 154,338 | 48.81% |
| Liquidation | 109,226 | 81 | 109,145 | 99.93% |
| In Administration | 3,288 | 38 | 3,250 | 98.84% |
| Live but Receiver Manager on at least on | 1,635 | 247 | 1,388 | 84.89% |
| Voluntary Arrangement | 533 | 437 | 96 | 18.01% |
| In Administration/Administrative Receive | 254 | 1 | 253 | 99.61% |
| RECEIVERSHIP | 188 | 4 | 184 | 97.87% |
| ADMINISTRATION ORDER | 124 | 1 | 123 | 99.19% |
| ADMINISTRATIVE RECEIVER | 106 | 3 | 103 | 97.17% |
| VOLUNTARY ARRANGEMENT / RECEIVER MANAGER | 2 | 1 | 1 | 50.00% |
| VOLUNTARY ARRANGEMENT / ADMINISTRATIVE R | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% |
| TOTAL | 5,529,637 | 4,708,216 | 821,421 | 14.85% |
OVER TIME
Liquidation rates for Active companies vary over time. The variance over time is particularly pronounced when looking at shorter timeframes. As can be seen in the chart below, the 3 month liquidation rate averages close to 5%, but for much of the year it is closer to 1%. Note: "Active - proposal to strike off" companies are not include in "Active".
PROGRESSION INTO THE FUTURE
Obviously, the longer the timeframe, the higher the Liquidation rate. The table below shows liquidation for different timeframes for active companies.
COMPANY AGE
Company age is somehwat correlated to liquidation rates. Companies less than 25 years old have higher liquidation rates than older companies (although companies less than 2 years old of very low short term liquidation rates).
Note: The age of incorporation is not known for about 4% of companies and these have very high Liquidation Rates, which is why the curves in the graph above appear lower than expected.
COMPANY TYPE
Liquidation rates vary significantly for types of company. For example, a PLC (Public Limited Copmany) has roughly have the liquidation rate as a Private Limitred Company.
CATEGORY OF ACCOUNTS FILED
Liquidation rates also vary by the category of accounts that companies file. Companies that file no accounts have a 12 month liquidation rate about 7 times greater than companies who file full accounts.
Some industries fare better than others. The table below shows 12 month liquidation rates for the main industry sectors.
INDUSTRY SECTOR
Some industries are inherently less risky that others. In the table below we can see how liquidation rates vary by industry sector.
12 month Liquidation Rates of ACTIVE companies by Industry Sector
| SIC Label | Companies | 12 month Liquidation Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Warehousing and support activities for transportation | 31,559 | 18.2% |
| Manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products | 332 | 17.5% |
| Mining of coal and lignite | 140 | 17.1% |
| Postal and courier activities | 12,362 | 16.5% |
| Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles | 327,224 | 16.3% |
| Public administration and defence; compulsory social security | 7,830 | 15.2% |
| Activities of households as employers of domestic personnel | 988 | 14.9% |
| Manufacture of wearing apparel | 8,941 | 14.0% |
| Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles | 153,617 | 13.8% |
| Land transport and transport via pipelines | 96,649 | 13.7% |
| Repair of computers and personal and household goods | 7,213 | 13.7% |
| Gambling and betting activities | 1,876 | 13.5% |
| Services to buildings and landscape activities | 53,677 | 13.4% |
| Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers | 4,716 | 13.4% |
| Manufacture of food products | 20,030 | 13.1% |
| Food and beverage service activities | 176,449 | 13.1% |
| Information service activities | 34,590 | 12.8% |
| Security and investigation activities | 18,513 | 12.7% |
| Manufacture of leather and related products | 1,495 | 12.4% |
| Manufacture of tobacco products | 171 | 12.3% |
| Advertising and market research | 34,521 | 12.1% |
| Manufacture of other transport equipment | 3,534 | 12.1% |
| Mining of metal ores | 517 | 11.8% |
| Manufacture of textiles | 6,852 | 11.6% |
| Civil engineering | 29,469 | 11.4% |
| Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products | 6,203 | 11.4% |
| Waste collection, treatment and disposal activities; materials recovery | 9,743 | 11.0% |
| Other personal service activities | 192,015 | 10.7% |
| Publishing activities | 34,944 | 10.6% |
| Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles | 85,221 | 10.6% |
| Computer programming, consultancy and related activities | 238,954 | 10.6% |
| Employment activities | 43,918 | 10.5% |
| Printing and reproduction of recorded media | 12,621 | 10.3% |
| Mining support service activities | 4,525 | 10.2% |
| Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis | 78,675 | 10.2% |
| Activities auxiliary to financial services and insurance activities | 26,390 | 10.1% |
| Manufacture of wood and of products of wood and cork, except furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting ma | 9,036 | 10.0% |
| Residential care activities | 23,235 | 9.7% |
| Travel agency, tour operator and other reservation service and related activities | 16,155 | 9.6% |
| Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products | 8,149 | 9.5% |
| Manufacture of beverages | 6,376 | 9.4% |
| Programming and broadcasting activities | 4,832 | 9.3% |
| Telecommunications | 17,526 | 9.3% |
| Manufacture of furniture | 8,927 | 9.2% |
| Rental and leasing activities | 20,648 | 9.2% |
| Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities | 245,578 | 9.2% |
| Air transport | 3,357 | 9.1% |
| Other manufacturing | 29,228 | 9.0% |
| Office administrative, office support and other business support activities | 245,128 | 9.0% |
| Manufacture of paper and paper products | 2,893 | 8.9% |
| Water collection, treatment and supply | 1,675 | 8.9% |
| Education | 85,373 | 8.9% |
| Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products | 4,487 | 8.7% |
| Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies | 139,060 | 8.5% |
| Construction of buildings | 188,658 | 8.4% |
| Specialised construction activities | 254,818 | 8.4% |
| Veterinary activities | 5,382 | 8.3% |
| Other professional, scientific and technical activities | 178,182 | 8.3% |
| Repair and installation of machinery and equipment | 28,983 | 8.3% |
| Remediation activities and other waste management services. | 2,841 | 8.2% |
| Motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing activities | 62,336 | 8.2% |
| Manufacture of basic metals | 2,558 | 8.1% |
| Sports activities and amusement and recreation activities | 57,920 | 8.0% |
| Scientific research and development | 10,581 | 8.0% |
| Creative, arts and entertainment activities | 48,808 | 8.0% |
| Social work activities without accommodation | 23,566 | 7.9% |
| Manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations | 1,711 | 7.7% |
| Sewerage | 1,003 | 7.4% |
| Financial service activities, except insurance and pension funding | 128,740 | 7.2% |
| Other mining and quarrying | 1,999 | 7.2% |
| Extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas | 2,070 | 7.1% |
| Manufacture of electrical equipment | 5,740 | 6.9% |
| Human health activities | 132,573 | 6.8% |
| Water transport | 3,668 | 6.6% |
| Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment | 20,581 | 6.5% |
| Manufacture of rubber and plastic products | 5,809 | 6.4% |
| Accommodation | 36,719 | 6.4% |
| Fishing and aquaculture | 3,839 | 6.3% |
| Activities of membership organisations | 20,389 | 6.1% |
| Legal and accounting activities | 74,575 | 6.1% |
| Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply | 14,878 | 5.8% |
| Crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities | 29,663 | 5.8% |
| Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. | 9,223 | 5.7% |
| Forestry and logging | 4,524 | 5.4% |
| Real estate activities | 394,588 | 5.0% |
| Libraries, archives, museums and other cultural activities | 2,839 | 5.0% |
| Insurance, reinsurance and pension funding, except compulsory social security | 7,652 | 3.9% |
| Undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of private households for own use | 106,722 | 2.1% |
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
It is interesting to look at how liquidation rates vary relative to financial performance. For financial performance we look at 3 main measures and whether they are negative or positive:
- Net Assets. Negative net assets means that the company owes more money than it has in assets.
- Retained Earnings. Negative retained earnings usually implies that over the lifetime of the company, it has made a aggregate net loss.
- Net Profit
12 month Liquidation Rates vs Financial Performance
| Net Assets | Retained Earnings | Net Profit | Companies | 12 month Liquidation Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| no data | Negative | Negative | 2,252 | 15.2% |
| no data | Negative | Positive | 1,676 | 15.2% |
| no data | Negative | no data | 78,317 | 13.1% |
| no data | no data | Negative | 36,148 | 12.5% |
| no data | no data | Positive | 63,300 | 8.8% |
| no data | no data | no data | 2,089,746 | 8.5% |
| Positive | no data | Negative | 209,137 | 8.5% |
| Negative | no data | no data | 7,269,985 | 7.5% |
| Positive | no data | no data | 27,476,972 | 7.2% |
| Negative | Negative | no data | 5,097,333 | 6.7% |
| Negative | no data | Negative | 176,860 | 6.6% |
| Negative | Negative | Negative | 330,648 | 5.9% |
| Positive | no data | Positive | 491,525 | 5.6% |
| no data | Positive | Negative | 895 | 5.3% |
| Positive | Positive | Negative | 224,013 | 5.2% |
| Negative | Positive | no data | 14,100 | 5.1% |
| Positive | Negative | no data | 621,044 | 4.7% |
| Negative | no data | Positive | 64,355 | 4.6% |
| no data | Positive | no data | 30,537 | 4.6% |
| Negative | Negative | Positive | 123,059 | 4.4% |
| Negative | Positive | Negative | 1,150 | 4.2% |
| Positive | Negative | Negative | 76,754 | 3.8% |
| Positive | Positive | no data | 14,347,920 | 3.8% |
| no data | Positive | Positive | 5,028 | 3.5% |
| Positive | Positive | Positive | 1,374,832 | 2.7% |
| Positive | Negative | Positive | 44,105 | 2.5% |
| Negative | Positive | Positive | 2,347 | 1.9% |
| TOTAL | 60,254,038 | 6.2% |
Note: the data on this page is updated every month.
