Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 27 – August GDP Figures
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 26 – Zombie Companies & The State of Retail
Link to the figures spoken about in the podcast: Zombie Companies and Retail Sector Analysis
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 25 – Winter Economy Plan & Going Back to Basics
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 24 – Industries roundup & Monetary Policy minutes
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 23 – July GDP Figures & Sector Analysis
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 22 – How Britain’s high streets are recovering after lockdown
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 21 – June GDP figures, what’s behind the numbers?
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 20 – Don’t Think in Black & White
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 19 – Travel, NIESR & the reintroduction of Crown Preference
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 18 – Redundancies Up, Investments Down & Return to Office in Limbo
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 17 – OBR: Fiscal Sustainability Report
Commercial Landlords (asset 1bn plus) Covid Forecast H-Score®
In Episode 14 of our Coronavirus podcast, Nick Hood mentioned research that he had carried out for a national newspaper examining the financial health of some of the major commercial landlords in the UK. We’re pleased to make the key findings available. The table lists them in order of their Covid Forecast H-Score® from worst…
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 16 – Rishi Sunak’s Summer Statement & Arts and Culture Lifeline
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 15 – Unemployment, Business Survival & The Impact of People on Risk.
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 14 – Intu collapse and the state of tenant/landlord relations
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 13 – The Grimsey Review – Covid-19 Supplement for Town Centres
The Grimsey Review – Build Back Better – Covid-19 Supplement for Town Centres
Coivid-19 it has accelerated the demise of town centres and high streets as shopping destinations, and paved the way for a post retail landscape to emerge…
4-Step Guide – Covid Scenario Forecast for Companies with Abbreviated Accounts
Our Covid Scenario Forecast H-Score® is currently only available for companies which file full accounts (P&L and balance sheet) at Companies House. We’ve made an easy to follow 4-step guide, showing you how to assess risk for small companies who do not file full accounts. If you would also like to view the webinar please…
Webinar – Assessing the Impact of Covid-19 on Small Companies
In this webinar, Company Watch founder and Director, Denis Baker, is joined by Senior Financial Analyst, Tolu Olukoya, as they guide you through our Angelia system, showing show you how to assess the impact of the virus on small companies. We have also created an accompanying 4-step guide free to download here.
THE CORPORATE INSOLVENCY & GOVERNANCE ACT 2020
The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill received the Royal Assent on 25 June 2020, coming into force on that date. The Act implements insolvency reforms first proposed by the government as far back as 2016, which were the subject of extensive public consultation and then a further government response in August 2018.
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 12 – Where is the longer term funding for recovery going to come from?
How to use SearCHeD Webinar
Over 1100 companies have mentioned Covid-19 in their filed accounts. Jo and Mike show you how our SearCHeD tool can streamline your workflow and allow you to identify critical companies in your customer or supplier base at the click of a button.
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 11 – The Murky World of Asset Valuation
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 10 – Can Retail & Hospitality Bounce Back?
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 9 – Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill – Part 2
TUI – The World’s Largest Holiday Company and the Impact of Coronavirus (Webinar Series EP. 3)
In this episode, Denis Baker and Tolu Olukoya take you through the Company Watch platform, discussing the struggling holiday sector and TUI’s troubles…
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 8 – Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill – Part 1
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 7 – Social Care, Hospitality & the Economic Outlook from the CEBR
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 6 – The Critical Need to keep Cash Flowing in the Economy
Retail Sector During Coronavirus – Modelling “what-if” Scenarios” (Webinar Series Ep.2)
In the second installment of our webinar series, Denis Baker and Tolu Olukoya take you through the Company Watch ‘Experiments’ functionality, the new ‘Covid Scenario Forecast H-Score®’ and how you can use both of these tools in your financial modelling.
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 5 – Landlords vs Tenants, The Fashion Industry & Trade Credit Insurance
Webinar: Covid-19 Scenario Forecast H-Score®
In this session, Ruby Renesh and Tolu Olukoya explain and show the brand new score from Company Watch – Covid Scenario Forecast H-Score®.
Covid-19 Scenario Forecast H-Score® Launch
Company Watch is delighted to announce that, through an extraordinary effort by the whole company, in particular our data science and development teams, we are releasing a Covid-19 Scenario Forecast H-Score® which we believe will help you manage risk during this unprecedented period of disruption and uncertainty. This will be available to all users as part…
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 4 – OBR Reference Scenario & Impact on UK Economy
Coronavirus Podcast: Episode 3 – How will companies fund their way out of the crisis?
Webinar Series EP 1 – Using Experiments to Forecast Distress (Airline Industry)
In the first of our new webinar series, Denis Baker and Tolu Olukoya take you through the Company Watch ‘Experiments’ functionality and how you can use it to your advantage.
Nick Hood – Coronavirus, the Nightmare of Contagion in the Supply Chain
Battle-hardened business risk analyst, Nick Hood, explores the impact of global events on the supply chain. Nick explores every procurement professional’s nightmare of the ripple effect of failure in the supply chain. How can this be spotted, contained and, ideally, prevented.
Company Clinic: Utilities
Water and energy companies face a drastic shake-up in 2020, as forces such as climate change and shifts in consumer behaviour will push them to find new and innovative ways of operating. Overall, 1926 companies (40%) of the utilities sector is in the Company Watch Warning Area. Business Risk Analyst, Nick Hood, alongside Company Watch…
Company Clinic: Construction
Across the UK, there are around 3 million people employed either directly or indirectly by the construction industry, making up 10% of total UK employment. The construction sector is a traditional one and one that has not developed as quickly as other sectors. Ongoing issues around fraud and ethics, sustainability, risk management, supply-chain relationships requires…
Industry Watch: Retail Property Sector
Between 2014-2018 there has been a 42% drop in retail property investment in the UK; most significantly is the 78% drop in shopping centre investment. Retail property continues to face a number of serious challenges: the rise in internet shopping, the move away from traditional high street shopping and demands for flexible lower rent means…
Aphrodite
At Companies House, many directorships are not linked to other directorships that a particular individual may have… Many of our clients want to be able to check that the directors of the company they want to do business with do not have a hidden history of dissolved/insolvent companies or disqualifications behind them. The solution: Aphrodite…
Company Clinic: Pubs, Clubs and Restaurants
Britain’s number of licensed premises dropped 2% over the past 12 months to September 2019. Restaurants have been on the decline for eight quarters in a row now. Their number fell 2.4% in the year to September 2019 (net closure of 8 sites per week). The struggles of the casual dining market have been well…
TextScore®
Based on annual and interim financial reports, the Company Watch TextScore® is built on a natural language processing (NLP) approach that looks only at the text in a company’s financial accounts. The TextScore® enables our customers to cut through the corporate jargon found in so many reports. Our TextScore® predicted 93% of quoted company insolvencies…
H-Score®
The Company Watch H-Score® is an overall measure of a company’s financial health. H-Score® measures a company’s published financial results and ranks them on a scale of 0 (weakest) to 100 (strongest). Anything scored 25 or less will appear in the Company Watch warning area. Having successfully predicted 92% of quoted company insolvencies over the…
CICM Magazine December 2019 – SearCHeD Q&A
Company Watch’s latest tool SearCHeD features in the December issue of the CICM magazine. To read the Q&A with Jo Kettner and to find out more about the tool please click here: SearCheD_CICM_Dec19
Company Clinic: Retail Property Sector
There has been a 42% drop in retail property investment between 2014 and 2018 in the UK. 1 in 3 London shopping centres have plans for an element of retail conversion with 14,000 new homes having been created from retail conversion activity since 2013. Company Watch CEO Jo Kettner, alongside Nick Hood, discuss what the…
Industry Watch: Retail
The average overall average H-Score® in the retail sector is only 36, far below most other sectors in the economy. Challenges facing retailers are so numerous, so interlinked and so complex that it is no surprise that weaker and badly run businesses are failing in increasing numbers. Download your copy of the Industry Watch report…
Company Clinic – Retail Sector
Insolvencies are on the rise again in the retail sector, after declining each year between 2014 and 2016 and rising slightly in 2017. In 2018, they totalled 1,561 failures, a rise of 11%. Most worrying is that the overall average H-Score® in the sector is only 36, way below most other sectors in the economy….
Industry Watch: Agri-Foods
Farming is the bedrock of the UK’s largest manufacturing sector (food and drink), supplying both domestic and international markets. The sector contributes £121bn (6.6% total of the UK economy) Gross Added Value and employs over 4m people (up 1.8% since 2017 and 11% since 2000). However, 14% of farm holdings in the UK lose money…
Andrew Leach – Resilient Supply Chains for an Uncertain World
Andrew Leach, a supply chain risk management expert, highlights why in these uncertain times, the business of managing supply chain risk has never been more important. He explains why it’s vital to know your supplier before contracts are signed and how to reduce your exposure to financial risk.
Company Clinic – Agri-Foods Sector
Farming is the bedrock of the UK’s largest manufacturing sector (food and drink), providing the nation and wider world. The sector contributes £121bn (6.6% total of the UK economy) Gross Added Value. The sector also employs over 4m people (up 1.8% since 2017 and 11% since 2000) and the total net worth of the farm…
Corporate Warnings on Brexit
UK company annual reports are freely available at Companies House. However, they are often scanned in versions and as a consequence the information contained in the text is hard to extract, making searching the documents for key information difficult and time consuming. To solve this problem at Company Watch we have compiled a database of…
Credit Management September Article – Trusted Source
Company Watch CEO, Jo Kettner features in this month’s issue of the CICM Credit Management magazine, explaining that to make an informed decision you must understand the source of the information being used. Download your copy of the article below:
Rise of Alternative Data in Credit Risk
In this data revolution we are currently living in, more data has been created in the last 2 years than in all history up to that point. Laurie Beagle, Managing Director of Forums International, was joined by Company Watch Data Scientists Dr Adam Tucker and Dr Philip Derry in this latest webinar. They discuss the…
Company Clinic – Kier Group PLC
Kier has been in the Company Watch Warning Area for some years, primarily due to its weak balance sheet structure. In contrast to this, the market perception has been strong with Kier valued at over £1bn as recent as September 2018. However following Kier’s issues over the past year, the market value has been decimated…
Know Your Supplier
Supplier financial failure is one of the biggest threats to a business. For too many businesses, active risk management of suppliers stops as soon as the contract is signed. Yet, the on-going monitoring of your key suppliers is a critical part of business continuity and growth planning. In this guide we take a look at…
Industry Watch: Travel
As the UK population changes its consumer habits around the travel industry, there are some significant impacts for the financial health of those companies involved. The overall position of the industry, with an average H-Score® of just 42, is well below the norm for the UK economy; with a large portion of these companies (35%)…
Company Clinic – Travel
The travel industry is a significant contributor to the UK economy, with a GVA per annum of £68bn. However, with an average H-score of 42, well below the norm for the UK economy, the industry is under threat. Constant downward price pressures and rising cost pressures are leading to many company insolvencies. In this latest…
Industry Watch: Haulage and Logistics
Excessive competition and chronic congestion of UK roads and ports is becoming a real issue for many within the industry. Company Watch CEO, Jo Kettner and Nick Hood recently reviewed the sector to track the overall state of the industry. Download your copy of the Industry Watch – Haulage and Logistics using the button below….
Company Clinic – Haulage and Logistics
With significant labour shortages and chronic congestion of UK ports and roads, the haulage and logistics sector is facing significant pressures. In the Company Clinic – Haulage and Logistics; Jo Kettner, CEO of Company Watch and Nick Hood examine why the 5th largest sector in the UK is at risk. With over 40% of the…
CICM webinar – sorting the weak from the strong
How credit professionals can sort the strong from the weak. Denis Baker and Jo Kettner, Company Watch, hosted the latest CICM webinar on 27th March. With the number of high-profile failing companies increasing, Denis Baker looked at how companies such as Capita, Mitie, Interserve, Accenture and Carillion affect credit teams, and why knowing your customer…
Supply Chain video
Andrew Leach, a supply chain risk management expert, highlights why in these times of unprecedented political turmoil, when uncertainty is the new normal, the business of managing supply chain risk has never been more important. Or more difficult… Using examples of how companies have successfully adopted practical, workable processes to create early-warning systems, Andrew talks…
Industry Watch: Pubs, Cafes and Bars
Industry Watch: Pubs, Cafes and Bars report is now available. The overall synopsis of the leisure industry is that the H-Score® has fallen from an average of 40 down to 38 in the past 12 months. However, this headline figure masks what is happening within the sector. The average H-Score® for pubs and restaurants…
What credit professionals need to consider
Credit management is about allowing businesses to grow profitably: done right, credit management can transform businesses. Find out why credit professionals choose Company Watch to help them effectively manage their customers and partners.
What procurement professionals need to consider
Procurement is one of the most critical functions of any business. Any disruption to the smooth and continuous flow of goods, materials and services can bring a business to a standstill. Supplier Management isn’t just about finding the best price for a contract – it is about ensuring that a contract can be delivered in time…
Living our values
One of the reasons clients choose Company Watch is because of our commitment and values. At Company Watch having values is about nurturing and supporting our three key values of respect, excellence and innovation. To embody this we have three Company Watch plants that represent our values: a peace lily for Respect, an orchid for…
Beware who you’re contracting with!
There was an interesting programme on Late Payment on BBC Radio 4’s Money Box Live yesterday – a real problem for small businesses. Expert advice was to ‘know who you’re contracting with’ and ‘know what you’re getting into’ – credit reports, which include information about Directors, County Court Judgments and suggested Credit Limits are a…
Why is the leisure industry in danger?
The overall synopsis of the leisure industry is that the H-Score® has fallen from an average of 40 down to 38 in the past 12 months. However, this headline figure masks what is happening within the sector. The average H-Score® for pubs and restaurants is a mere 32 out of 100. View the latest…
BBC Breakfast – using Company Watch analysis
Saturday 19th January’s edition of BBC Breakfast included an interview with Nick Hood, reporting the state of the travel industry. The interview with Nick used data analysis from Company Watch. The report highlights the fragile state of the market, and the need for caution when dealing with travel agents and tour operators.
Company Clinic – Testing for Insolvency
Whether you are involved with credit, procurement, risk or finding new business – understanding the financial health of companies is key to business success. Nick Hood, insolvency practitioner, talks about how he has successfully monitored a portfolio of businesses, and why Directors, Shareholders, Lenders, Suppliers, JV partners, Acquirers and Advisers should be looking at the…
Company Clinic – Construction webinar
The construction sector is a multi-faceted industry, including house builders, major contractors and civil engineering. Since the spectacular collapse of Carillion in January 2018, there has been a heightened interest in the performance and financial sustainability of the major players. Company Watch recently held a Company Clinic webinar on the Construction industry. Also available:…
Industry Watch – Construction
The construction sector is a multi-faceted industry, including house builders, major contractors and civil engineering. Since the spectacular collapse of Carillion in January 2018, there has been a heightened interest in the performance and financial sustainability of the major players. Company Watch recently reviewed the construction and house building sector to track the overall state…
Where did £800m assets disappear to…
When House of Fraser finally succumbed to Administration, there was barely-concealed outrage that a company which had reported assets of over £900m in its January 2017 Accounts had been sold for only £90m a little over 18 months later. So where can more than £800 million disappear to? Denis Baker has provided a valuable insight…
Is the UK retail high street dying?
The survival and growth of the traditional high street in the teeth of online shopping competition, changing consumer habits, development constraints and burgeoning business charges, is nothing less than a high-stakes battle – in which the very purpose of place is at stake for many hundreds of towns and cities. Marking the fifth anniversary of…
Introducing Angelia
Angelia – what’s in a name…. Like most tech companies, we use internal codenames to label our development projects – for the last 3 or 4 years these have all been taken from Greek mythology. We’ve got rather fond of Angelia – our codename for our complete system re-write over the last couple of years…
Article in The Telegraph
The Telegraph reports on care home insolvencies rising amid pressure from living wage costs. Research carried out by Opus Restructuring and Company Watch found that one in four of the UK’s 2,500 home care companies was at risk of insolvency. See the article in full
Company Clinic webinar – retail
As part of our ongoing analysis of the market place we monitor the performance of individual companies and model the impact of internal and external events on their vulnerability. The Company Clinic webinars are designed to give you an insight into companies featuring in the news, showing you the real story behind the headlines. This…
i-FM article
Read the latest i-FM article, from one of the leading facilities management magazines, on the strong performers and those in danger of falling into the warning area within the FM industry. See the financial health of companies including G4S, Capita and Kier, which used Company Watch analysis. The full article is available here (may require login).
CCR Listing
CCR Magazines lists Company Watch. CCRmagazine.com, the magazine for credit professionals, now has Company Watch listed within its information and engagement section. View listing here:
Women in IT
Company Watch is continuing to lead the way in shaping global software development, and to boost the number of women IT engineers. Estela Pinto, one of the Company Watch software development team is supporting the organisation of this year’s LAMBDA.WORLD, one of the largest global functioning programming events. This year’s conference will be held from…
Latest Industry Watch – Restaurants now available
As part of our ongoing analysis of the market place we monitor the performance of industry sectors within the economy and model the impact of internal and external events on various sectors. These results are included within our Industry Watch updates. Download your copy of Industry Watch – Restaurants to view who is strong and…
Higher minimum wages will cook up trouble for restaurants and cafes
Monday, May 14, 2018 One third of the larger restaurant and cafe companies are loss making, meaning that increases in national minimum wage, which came into force on 1 April 2018, will put even more pressure on an already-besieged sector. Company Watch, the financial analytics firm, analysed a representative industry sample, examining the published full…
Jo Kettner appointed as new CEO
Tuesday, May 2, 2017 Jo Kettner (née Roberts) takes over the firm’s leading executive role from co-founder and former CEO Denis Baker who remains with the firm as a board director and full-time member of staff. Since 2003, Kettner has held a number of roles at Company Watch. Initially working on the research side of the…
Many well-known retailers will struggle to meet higher interest payments, finds new study by Company Watch
Monday, March 12, 2018 A new study of over 1600 larger UK retailers with total assets of £5 million or over by Company Watch, the financial analytics firm, found over a quarter were financially vulnerable to rises in interest rate costs this year. Company Watch reviewed the latest published full year financial accounts of 1625…
Welcome to the June 2017 Newsletter
As Britons head to the ballot box today, the narrowing Conservative Party lead in the opinion polls suggests the Government might be facing a reduced majority or even the prospect of a hung parliament. We shall soon find out. A reduced parliamentary majority will have dashed Theresa May’s hopes of strengthening her negotiating hand with…
Recent Company Failures
This list is compiled typically using the largest companies in each sector (measured by Total Assets). High profile failures are found on our twitter feed @Company_Watch. Please note that we have excluded subsidiaries (we always warn users to check the financial health of the highest group company into which accounts are consolidated to get the…
Welcome to the February 2017 Newsletter
Welcome to our February 2017 newsletter. As we write, we are in the early weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency, and already the rule book on international relations, trade and diplomacy has been torn up leaving the world trying to get to grips with how this most unpredictable of US presidents is going to reshape modern…
BIPA are delighted to announce new member: Company Watch Ltd
BIPA are pleased to announce that Company Watch Ltd has become a member from February 2017. Company Watch Ltd which was founded in 1998 in London is delighted to be joining BIPA which now comprises the seven principle Commercial Credit Reference Agencies in the UK.
Company Watch broadens its coverage of Polish companies
24 November, 2016 Company Watch, specialists in tracking and predicting corporate financial health, has increased the number of online Polish companies available. Customers can now access full financial Company Watch health assessments of over 530,000 private Polish companies including profit, asset & funding, management evaluation and full financial trend analysis. In addition to annual financials…
Company Watch expands its coverage of Italian companies
21 November, 2016 Company Watch has expanded the number of Italian companies available online. Customers can now access full financial Company Watch health assessments of all private Italian companies including profit, asset & funding, management evaluation and full financial trend analysis. In addition to annual financials & ratings, users can access other important business details…
More ‘Zombie’ firms, more risk
16 November, 2016 Company Watch, who monitor corporate financial health, has found that there are now approximately 249,000 ‘Zombie’ firms trading in the UK, an increase of 10,000 compared to November 2014 when they conducted the same research. Zombie firms (named after the so-called ‘living dead’) are severely financially distressed. They are able to continue…
Two thirds of businesses going into Administration fail
31 October, 2016 Research by Opus Restructuring, a leading advisory, restructuring and insolvency firm, reveals that Administration, the UK’s flagship business rescue procedure, is ineffective in over two thirds of cases. Using data and analytics supplied by Company Watch, a financial analytics company, Opus reviewed the outcomes of 4,581 Administration cases in England & Wales…
More tough times ahead for the junior oil and gas companies, warns Company Watch – Financial Times – 11 January 2016
11 January, 2016 With oil prices testing record ten year lows and likely to remain low for the foreseeable future corporate health monitors Company Watch has repeated last year’s examination of the health of the finances of the UK’s smaller publicly quoted oil and gas companies. Read full release
Press Release – Over half of AIM mining companies in the financial sick room – 22 October 2015
9 November, 2015 Although collapsing commodity prices have hit mining giants like Glencore, smaller mining stocks have taken as much or even more of a battering, according to new research on the AIM-quoted mining sector from corporate health monitors Company Watch. To illustrate the impact the mining recession has had on smaller mining stocks, …Read full release.
