Increase in debt judgments against Scots businesses

The number of business debt judgments recorded in Scotland rose sharply in the first half of 2015, according to new Registry Trust figures.

There were 2,503 judgments recorded against Scottish businesses in the first six months of the year, an increase of 29 per cent on the previous year - the first significant rise in recent years.

The total value of business judgments was £20 million, an increase of 193 per cent from the first half of 2014. The average value of a business judgements was £7,983, 127 per cent more than in the first half of 2014.

Malcolm Hurlston CBE, chairman of Registry Trust, said they were “bad figures amounting to a cloud over the Scottish economy”.

The increase in the number of judgments was driven by those registered against non-corporates, accounting for 444 of the total increase of 564, while the increase in the total value of judgments was driven by the increase in the value of judgments against corporates, accounting for £11 million of the total £13 million increase.

The average value of a non-corporate judgment was £3,971 and the average value of a corporate judgment was £12,742.

Alongside the new figures, Registry Trust also revealed it had received 13,259 requests to search its public register for Scotland during the first six months of 2015, most of which were made via Trust Online.

The website allows people in Scotland to conduct free searches for judgments and other registered information against businesses and consumers in any jurisdiction in the UK and Ireland.

Mr Hurlston said: “It is a unique benefit for people to be able to check the debt record of any person or business with which they may be transacting. Negative information should at least give pause for thought.

“People in Scotland would be wise to search both the Scottish register and the register for England and Wales which also contains some judgments affecting Scottish addresses.”