Strong performance from region’s professional services sector

THE professional services sector in Yorkshire was among the strongest in the UK in September, building on growing evidence that the UK is recovering from the immediate shock of the EU Referendum result.

Research by insolvency trade body R3 show that of the 12 regions surveyed, Yorkshire had among the lowest proportion of professional services firms at higher than normal risk of insolvency with just 29.9% compared with the UK average of 32.4%.  Of the 3,067 active businesses in the sector in the region, just 918 were identified as being at higher than normal risk.  

The only other regions with less than 30% of professional services businesses at higher than normal risk were Wales (29.4%) and Northern Ireland (25.9%).

Yorkshire also showed resilience in a number of other sectors where it again had amongst the lowest proportion of businesses identified as being at higher than normal risk – manufacturing (18.7%, compared with 21.8% across the UK); hotels (18.7%; 20.3% across the UK); agriculture (16.7%; 19.1% across the UK); and construction (26.1%; 27.6% across the UK).

Adrian Berry, chairman of R3 in Yorkshire and restructuring partner at Deloitte, said: “As the UK continues to recover from the post Referendum shock, it is encouraging to see various pieces of positive research coming through, showing that despite the initial fallout, at this point our economy appears to be weathering the storm.

“The service sector is, of course, a vital part of the Yorkshire economy so it is particularly pleasing to see it performing better than in other parts of the country, building on August’s strong PMI figures and other good news in the manufacturing and construction sectors.

“However, while fears of an imminent UK recession seem to be fading, it is still early days with most economists saying that growth is unlikely to be impressive and prospects for the medium term remain uncertain.  With this in mind, businesses need to proceed with caution and seek professional advice at the first sign of problems.”