Jump in firms in critical condition

The number of British firms in their death throes or on the brink of bankruptcy rose almost seven-fold in the second quarter compared with the same period last year, a survey showed on Sunday.

Begbies Traynor, the business rescue, recovery and restructuring specialist, said 4,258 companies faced critical problems, including moves to wind them up, in the three months to June 30, compared with 542 the same time last year.

This was also up 28.7 percent on the first quarter, with construction, information technology and retail companies suffering the most.

"With credit conditions still tightening, these new figures demonstrate that the effects are certainly getting worse, and we would anticipate that they will continue to do so, certainly until the end of this year at least," Begbies Executive Chairman Ric Traynor said in a statement.