The latest figures from Registry Trust have revealed a 21% rise in the number of debt decrees registered against Scottish companies during the first quarter of the year.
Registry Trust is the non-profit organisation that collects decree and judgment information from jurisdictions across the British Isles and Ireland. In Scotland it collects information on small claims and summary causes, and ordinary cause decrees. It explains that a decree is incontrovertible proof that debt has not been managed.
Over the same quarter the average value of a company decree rose by 5%.
In contrast, decrees against businesses that were not incorporated apparently moved strongly in the opposite direction, with a 41% fall in the number of decrees and a drop of 29% in the average value of a decree.
“The contrasting experience of businesses is a cause for concern because there is no clear and immediate explanation,” said Registry Trust chairman Malcolm Hurlston CBE. “Certainly, a close eye is needed on the wellbeing of the corporate sector.”
In Q1 2017 Registry Trust received 8,542 requests to search the register for Scotland online at www.trustonline.org.uk.
Through TrustOnline anyone in Scotland can search for decrees and similar information registered against businesses and consumers in any jurisdiction across the British Isles and Ireland.
“It is a unique benefit for firms to be able to check the debt record of any person or business with which they may be transacting,” added Mr Hurlston. “Negative information would certainly make me think twice.”
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