12 Days of Data Advent Calendar

This Christmas, Red Flag Alert are celebrating by gifting you 12 days of unique data to get you in the festive Spirit including key highlights from 2021 and helpful tips to take you into 2022.

On the First Day of Christmas Red Flag Alert gave to me… 

The Return of the Advert Battle

UK advertisers are set to spend an extra £1 billion more on Christmas advertising in 2021, with sales expected to rise too as consumers do their shopping earlier than ever before.

Due to the pandemic that hit us in 2020, companies slashed their spending on advertising and took a a more subtle approach to their Christmas ads. However, this year marks the return of the big, extravagant television ads that viewers have enjoyed for many years. It is forecast that British companies will spend a record of £7.9bn, up 13% from last year on advertising.

This season is said to be a ‘digital marketing Christmas’ as spending on search advertising is predicated to increase by +15% to a significant £2.7bn, although this might be expected with consumer behaviour shifting and consumers turning to online shopping more than ever. At the same time, platforms such as Facebook and Instagram expect to see rises on display advertising by +12.7% to £2.4bn.

On the second day of Christmas Red Flag Alert gave to me …

£4.3 billion is written off each year in unpaid invoices

 Due to the economic disruption of Covid-19, we will see unpaid  business debt double to £8.5bn in 2022. 

Over 17,000* companies went out of business in 2019 according to the Insolvency Service, with analysis from us at Red Flag Alert show that £4.3bn of invoices were written off.

With more businesses under financial stress, Mark Halstead from Red Flag Alert advises that businesses should tighten up their creditor services and regularly health-check both the companies they deal with and the companies or suppliers they want to start working with to protect their business against insolvent debt.

On the third day of Christmas Red Flag Alert gave to me…

73% of data collected by businesses doesn’t get used 

It’s a common thing for businesses to collect data. However, did you know that 73% of the data businesses collect doesn’t get used. Why is that? Well, it is mainly because most businesses don’t know what to do with all this data and how to analyse it so it can help their business grow.

Having data that doesn’t get used is a waste, and businesses could be missing out on increased revenue from not using data effectively. In industries such as manufacturing, it can be costly as they use equipment that records volumes of sensor data and, by using this data they could plan, maintain, and even increase productivity. However, most businesses don’t use this data and therefore is costing them downtime.

If these industries used their data, they would see significant financial benefits. For example, the manufacturing industry could massively reduce it’s scrap production.  The aviation industry could reduce the amount of airplane ground downtime which would lead to more revenue by having more planes flying.

On the fourth day of Christmas, Red Flag Alert gave to me…

New Businesses Have Opened in 2021

While a large number of businesses closed or paused trading in 2020, we have seen a bounce back since the pandemic with at the time of writing from 1^st of January to 23^rd of November, 2021 just under 700,000 new businesses or 696,715 to be exact, were created. After a turbulent year, it’s encouraging to see that entrepreneurs are on the rise. 

And on the fifth day of Christmas, Red Flag Alert gave to me…

Over 3000 companies have 2 or 3 red flags

With up-to 120,000 updates daily, Red Flag Alert uses thousands of data points to capture information about companies across the UK. Using unique financial health scoring, this data can predict insolvency and businesses can be scored by gold, silver, bronze or by 1, 2 or 3 red flags. Red flags indicate that businesses display financial risk factors and therefore, companies should be performing elevated due diligence around these companies. According to Red Flag Alert, 3046 companies have 2 or 3 red flags. Learn more about how we can help your company manage risk with our financial scoring tool.

On the sixth day of Christmas, Red Flag Alert gave to me…

644,372 companies have a debenture  

In the UK, 644,372 companies have a debenture. A debenture can be used so the lender can take security for the loans, and if the company cannot pay back the loan, the lender is within their rights to appoint an administrator to collect the payments missed. A debenture is filed with Companies House, and information on which businesses currently have a debenture on file can be accessed through Red Flag Alert, including whether the loan has been satisfied in full, partially or not.

On the seventh day of Christmas, Red Flag Alert gave to me…

Gen-Z Directors on the rise

While it’s been heavily reported in the media that young workers have been most impacted by the covid-19 pandemic, 63,375 companies have been started this year with directors that are from the Gen-Z generation (born between 1992-2012).

On the eighth day of Christmas Red Flag Alert gave to me…

How Red Flag Alert Indicates the Likelihood of Businesses Being a Growth Company

Using Red Flag Alert data and unique health ratings, they show the likelihood of businesses being a growth company. A company that is designated as 1 Red Flag is 60.14% less likely to be a growth company rather than a company with a Bronze, Silver or Gold designation.  

Companies with a Silver designation are 19.48% more likely to be a growth company rather than a company with 1 Red Flag rating.

Similary, companies designated as Sliver is 27.83% more likely to be a growth company than a company with a lower rating.

On the ninth day of Christmas Red Flag Alert gave to me …

The Data That Tells Us Which Sectors Are Most Likely to Grow

Data from Red Flag Alert’s data scientists tells us which sectors are more likely to grow. For example, companies within the information/communication sector is 11.35% more likely to be a growth company than a company in all other sectors.

Companies in the Human Health and Social Work sector are 6.68% more likely to grow than a company in another sector.

On the tenth day of Christmas Red Flag Alert gave to me…

Employee Furlough Statistics by Gender 

Analysis of the number of employees on furlough from gov.uk shows that more employees who were male were put on furlough between May and September 2021 than female job holders. This supports the decrease in the number of jobs on furlough within the accommodation and food sectors as these sectors typically have a higher number of female employees.

Data also showed us that 624,600 employees on furlough were female by August 31, 2021. Figures show that this number decreased by September 30, 2021 to 523,300 females still on furlough.

However, there were 704,400 employees on furlough by August 31, 2021 where the employee was male. By September 30, 2021 this number decreased to 610,000.  

On the eleventh day of Christmas Red Flag Alert gave to me…

Furlough Statistics by Sector

Provisional figures from the gov.uk website shows us the number of employes on furlough for each sector, allowing us to clearly see which industry has had the most employees on furlough by September 30, 2021. The top three sectors with the most employees on furlough were as follows: wholesale, retail and repair of motors, with the latter having 172,000 employees on furlough. These industries may not be surprising due to the stores being closed and less people driving cars due to the pandemic. Following this, it shows that in accommodation and food services 156,900 employees were on furlough by September 30, 2021. Lastly, the administrative and support services had 121,300 employees on furlough.

Alternatively, the three sectors with the least amount of employees on furlough by September 30, 2021 are: mining and quarrying had 500 employees still on furlough, followed by energy production and supply with 600 employees and finally public administration and defence; social security with 1,000 employess on furlough by september 30 2021.

On the twelfth day of Christmas Red flag Alert gave to you a final data fact….

Businesses in Significant Financial Distress

Research by Red Flag Alert and Begbies Traynor tells us that there are 562,550 UK businesses that are in signficicant financial distress during Q3 2021 however this has decreased over the last quarter by 14%. Research also shows that as a result of businesses using the courts to recover debts there has been a rise is CCJ’s during Q3 2021 by 139%. In this last quarter, there has been a 17% rise in more  critical distress for businesses.

The top three distressed sectors are:

Support services – 87,694 companies in this sector are experiencing significant financial distress.

Construction – 72,465 construction companies are experiencing significant financial distress.

Real estate and property- 70,552 businesses in this sector are experiencing significant financial distress.

Research also shows the top three regions within the UK with distressed companies are:

London – 149,784

South East – 101,690

Midlands- 66,527

Discover Red Flag Alert

Red Flag Alert hope you have enjoyed our 12 days of data for 2021. Red Flag Alert can help your business use data more effectively in 2022, with our business intelligence platform for improved decision making. With data on over 13 million businesses and up-to 120,000 updates every day, our platform allows your business to use data to manage risk, stay compliant and grow sales. Book a demo to see how our platform can help.