22 February 2010 | Helen Gilbert

The number of UK firms going bust has fallen to its lowest rate since June 2007.

Monthly figures from information services provider Experian showed the rate of insolvencies fell to 0.07 per cent in January 2010, with seven in every 10,000 businesses going under. This was compared with 0.09 per cent in January last year and 0.11 per cent in December last year.

Firms across the UK experienced an improvement in their combined financial strength score, which rose from 79.46 per cent in January 2009 to 81.16 per cent last month.

Businesses in southwest England continued to be the most robust, while the highest insolvency rates last month were among breweries and plastics and rubber companies.

Rolf Hickmann, managing director of pH, an Experian company, said: “It’s encouraging to discover that not since the current financial crunch started have so few firms become insolvent in a single month.

“While it is too early to predict whether we are fully out of the woods, this does hint at an improvement in the health of UK businesses, something which is reinforced by the financial strength view provided by January’s data.”

Information provider Equifax also noted a 10 per cent fall in business insolvencies last month.