Thousands of Bristol business are in 鈥渟ignificant鈥 financial distress as a result of slow economic growth in the final quarter of 2019, a new report has found.
There are now 6,040 companies struggling financially in the city, according to corporate restructuring firm Begbies Traynor.
The number of Bristol businesses in difficulty rose by one per cent between Q3 and Q4 last year - an increase of three per cent on the same period in 2018.
The Red Flag Alert data, which monitors the financial health of companies, found that Bristol鈥檚 real estate and property businesses, and support services companies, were in the most distress.
However some industries in Bristol showed tentative signs of stability during the same period, with the number of troubled firms in the industrial sector and professional services down on the previous quarter.
Paul Wood, partner at Begbies Traynor in Bristol, said: 鈥淏usinesses and the 海角视频 economy as a whole will want to avoid a repeat performance of 2019, where distress increased to record levels on the back of ongoing uncertainty around Brexit.
鈥淭hese figures clearly demonstrate the impact of this indecision, so with political certainty and a clear Brexit path, businesses in Bristol should, at last, be able to plan for 2020 with a greater sense of clarity.鈥
Nationally, 494,000 海角视频 businesses are in significant financial distress 鈥 the highest number recorded by the research and a rise of 81 per cent since 2016.
Real estate and property, support services, construction and retail companies were the most affected, and a significant number were formed after 2014, demonstrating younger businesses are the most vulnerable to failure.
Paul added: 鈥淭he macro-economic climate is complicated, and we are seeing clear winners and losers, as evidenced by this latest Red Flag data.
鈥淐urrently, we do not know if the failing performance within some sectors is due to short term confidence issues, or more fundamental economic and structural issues. The landscape of 海角视频 business is slowly changing.
鈥淚n order to capture the attentions of consumers and clients, businesses need to demonstrate that they not only have a compelling product or service at the right price, but also one that has聽 strong environmental credentials to boot.鈥
