news release

Experian reveals best performing UK towns and cities of 2013

Northampton hailed best performing city in the UK

Nottingham, 6th March 2014 – Experian^®, the global information services company, today revealed which towns and cities in the UK provide the best environment for business success, based on how businesses in these areas have performed throughout 2013.

The index reviewed performance against four key measures including; the number of start-ups; rate of insolvencies; the level of financial health; and turnover growth compared to 2012. The performance scores were calculated by categorising the above indicators from 1-5 with 5 being the best performing and 1 being the worst [1] .

Northampton takes the top spot Northampton in the East Midlands took pole position as the best performing city in the UK with the highest overall performance score of 19 after taking top marks for turnover growth(5), start-up rate(5) and insolvency rates(5) whilst also scoring well on financial strength(4). It seems it is the second year the region has shone in terms of business performance as the county of Northamptonshire, was also named the most enterprising place in Britain in 2012 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the government department responsible for supporting economic growth in the country [2] .

London suburbs outperform the city

Of the top 20 towns in the index only Aberdeen represented Scotland, with no entries from Wales or Northern Ireland featuring. Towns in the South of England dominated the top slots with 65 per cent of the best performing cities heralding from the region, with only Crewe and York representing the North.

Whilst areas of London performed well in the overall index (particularly South East, West Central and East Central London), it was the outlying areas that outperformed the capital. These included Southall, Croydon, Kingston-Upon-Thames and Sutton, demonstrating the prosperity of suburban London.

Central London postcodes did, however, do well when looking at start-ups with East London, South East London and East Central London all featuring in the top 20 areas with the highest proportion of start-ups. East London saw the highest rate of start-ups with 24.5 per cent of firms in the area having started up in the last two years - more than twice the national average of 11.6 per cent.

The South also fared well in terms of financial health with companies in Redhill (Surrey) having the highest average Financial Strength Score [3] of 57.2 (out of 100) - 4.5 points better than the national average of 52.7.

Insolvencies

Aberdeen took the crown as the area with the lowest number of businesses becoming insolvent with just 0.28 per cent of the business population failing in 2013, compared to a national average of 0.93 per cent. The city performed equally as well when looking at high growth businesses with 54.7 per cent of the companies that filed turnover experiencing high sales growth (over 10 per cent).

Max Firth, Managing Director, Experian Business Information Services, UK&I said: “This study highlights that business conditions are starting to show real signs of recovery, not just for the capital but in towns across the UK. It is encouraging to see signs of positivity from areas like Northampton, Bristol and Aberdeen with a strong upward trend in the creation of locally formed businesses and the success of those companies. Growing businesses have a positive effect on the wider economy starting with increased employment prospects.”

Table 1: Best overall performance

Rank	Area	Insolvency Score	Financial Strength Score	Start-up Score	Turnover Growth Score	Overall Performance Score
1	Northampton	5	4	5	5	19
2	Southall	5	4	5	4	18
3	South East London	4	5	5	4	18
4	Aberdeen	5	5	2	5	17
5	Bristol	5	5	3	3	16
6	Cambridge	5	5	2	4	16
7	Brighton	5	4	3	3	15
8	Worcester	5	3	2	5	15
9	Croydon	4	4	5	2	15
10	Western Central London	4	5	3	3	15
11	Coventry	3	4	3	5	15
12	Crewe	3	4	3	5	15
13	Dartford	2	3	5	5	15
14	East Central London	1	5	5	4	15
15	Ipswich	5	3	2	4	14
16	Kingston upon Thames	5	5	1	3	14
17	Oxford	5	5	1	3	14
18	Bromley	4	5	4	1	14
19	Sutton	4	5	4	1	14
20	York	4	3	2	5	14

Table 2: Lowest insolvency rate

Rank	Area	Insolvencies	Insolvency Rate	Performance Score
1	Aberdeen	47	0.28%	5
2	Northern Ireland	151	0.32%	5
3	Edinburgh	99	0.35%	5
4	Dorchester	30	0.47%	5
5	Glasgow	170	0.61%	5
6	Oxford	134	0.61%	5
7	Bath	91	0.63%	5
8	Ipswich	106	0.67%	5
9	Canterbury	87	0.67%	5
10	Bristol	231	0.69%	5
11	Northampton	138	0.71%	5
12	Shrewsbury	61	0.71%	5
13	Carlisle	53	0.71%	5
14	Brighton	233	0.72%	5
15	Southall	76	0.73%	5
16	Norwich	123	0.73%	5
17	Cambridge	113	0.74%	5
18	Kingston upon Thames	215	0.76%	5
19	Torquay	64	0.76%	5
20	Worcester	74	0.76%	5

Table 3: Best Financial Strength Score

Rank	Area	# firms with FSS	Average FSS	Performance Score
1	Redhill	28,217	57.2	5
2	Reading	41,586	57.1	5
3	South West London	73,021	57	5
4	Western Central London	29,402	57	5
5	Kingston upon Thames	33,201	56.6	5
6	St Albans	15,783	56.5	5
7	Hemel Hempstead	26,614	56.3	5
8	Aberdeen	20,479	56	5
9	Stevenage	18,202	55.9	5
10	Bournemouth	27,477	55.8	5
11	East Central London	68,905	55.8	5
12	Slough	23,096	55.7	5
13	South East London	45,988	55.6	5
14	Oxford	25,658	55.5	5
15	Watford	16,971	55.4	5
16	Salisbury	7,827	55.3	5
17	Bromley	13,695	55.2	5
18	Bristol	39,865	55.2	5
19	Sutton	9,530	55	5
20	Cambridge	17,364	54.9	5

Table 4: Highest start-up rate

Rank	Area	# Start-ups	Start-up rate	Performance Score
1	East London	9,030	24.54%	5
2	South East London	7,807	22.51%	5
3	Southall	2,326	22.25%	5
4	Ilford	3,213	21.60%	5
5	Romford	2,553	21.30%	5
6	Lincoln	1,366	20.72%	5
7	North London	9,614	20.38%	5
8	East Central London	11,833	19.91%	5
9	Blackpool	1,387	18.94%	5
10	Croydon	2,471	15.95%	5
11	Cleveland	1,465	15.73%	5
12	Northampton	2,925	14.95%	5
13	Dartford	1,878	14.95%	5
14	Manchester	5,721	14.86%	5
15	Luton	1,387	14.50%	5
16	Warrington	3,375	14.22%	5
17	Bradford	1,786	14.22%	5
18	Twickenham	2,835	14.01%	5
19	Chester	2,189	14.01%	5
20	Liverpool	2,723	13.96%	5

Table 5: Largest proportion of high-growth businesses

Rank	Post Area	# firms with 10% sales growth	High growth rate	Performance Score
1	Aberdeen	501	54.69%	5
2	Newport	179	48.38%	5
3	York	302	47.63%	5
4	Llandudno	191	47.28%	5
5	Stoke-on-Trent	252	46.32%	5
6	Sheffield	621	46.21%	5
7	Taunton	160	45.85%	5
8	Dudley	183	45.52%	5
9	Cleveland	187	45.28%	5
10	Hull	235	45.02%	5
11	Blackburn	206	44.98%	5
12	Northampton	424	44.77%	5
13	Coventry	573	44.77%	5
14	Dartford	373	44.62%	5
15	Worcester	214	44.31%	5
16	Wolverhampton	213	44.28%	5
17	Walsall	210	44.21%	5
18	Cardiff	713	44.15%	5
19	Leeds	621	43.98%	5
20	Crewe	143	43.73%	5

Managing commercial credit in today's economy can be a real challenge. That’s why Experian created a new business management system called BusinessIQ - an advanced new web portal that meets all your credit risk assessment, customer management and collection needs in one easy-to-use, integrated platform.

ENDS

Performance Score ranges

Performance Score	Insolvencies	FSS	Start-up	Turnover
5	0.28% - 0.76%	57.15 - 54.85	24.53% - 13.95%	54.69% - 43.73%
4	0.76% - 0.86%	54.82 - 53.04	13.68% - 11.17%	43.45% - 42.34%
3	0.86% - 0.98%	52.97 - 52.23	11.07% - 10.20%	42.34% - 41.07%
2	0.98% - 1.11%	52.20 - 51.26	10.17% - 9.11%	41.07% - 39.43%
1	1.11% - 1.35%	51.25 - 39.81	9.09% - 5.60%	39.18% - 35.46%

Insolvencies – Percentage of business population becoming insolvent

Financial Strength Score - Predicts the likelihood of a business failing in the next 12 months, with 100 being the least likely to default and 1 being the most likely

Start-up – The percentage of the business population that started in the last two years.

Turnover – The percentage of business that have experienced turnover growth of 10 per cent or more

Contact:

Natalie Fox

PR Manager

T: 44 (0) 115 992 2645 | M: 44 (0) 7971 709274
natalie.fox@experian.com

About Experian

Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients around the world. The Group helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended 31 March 2013 was US$4.7 billion. Experian employs approximately 17,000 people in 40 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and São Paulo, Brazil.

For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com

[1] Performance Score range table at end of release

[2] http://news.bis.gov.uk/Press-Releases/Northamptonshire-named-most-enterprising-place-in-Britain-6805a.aspx

[3] Businesses with a Financial Strength Score of between 57.151 - 54.859 scored highest (5)

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Experian reveals best performing UK towns and cities of 2013

Experian reveals best performing UK towns and cities of 2013

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