The findings also raise questions about economic prospects for The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) published payment-performance tables for over 3,000 PLCs, including some of the UK’s largest household names. The tables, now in their fourth year, show no improvement in the time it takes PLCs to pay their bills.
Based on an analysis of company reports by the Credit Management Research Centre at Leeds University,
the tables show the average length of time it takes a PLC to pay its suppliers is 46 days - the same figure as the last three years.
Other key findings include:
19 companies are named as taking over 200 days to pay, compared to 14 last year.
The number of companies with exemplary one-day payment records has fallen from 25 companies last year to 21 this year.
Only one third of PLCs (34%) pay their bill within 30 days. 22% of PLCs take more than 60 days to pay.
