The payment performance of over 2,700 plcs, including some of the UK's largest household names, has been published by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). The tables, now in their fifth year, show no improvement in the time it takes plcs to pay their bills.
The tables, based on an analysis of company reports by the Credit Management Research Centre at Leeds University, show that the average length of time it takes a plc to pay its suppliers is 46 days - the same figure as the last four years.
Most worryingly fewer companies are reporting on their payment practices. Government regulations require all PLCs and their large subsidiaries to state in their annual reports the average length of time it takes them to pay their bills. But this year's tables contain the payment information for only 2,706 companies compared to 3,243 in 2002 and 4,100 in 2001 - representing a 66% fall over two years.
