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Business Payments Continue to Decline, According to Experian’s Latest Business Benchmark Report

 

Costa Mesa, Calif., Dec. 16, 2009 — Experian®, the leading global information services company, today announced the results of its monthly Business Benchmark Report. During the month of November, the majority of measurements in the report show that payment performance is continuing to deteriorate nationwide across most industries, geographies and businesses of all sizes. Still, businesses with 100 to 1,000 employees began showing improvement in overall dollars delinquent, indicating there may be some stability in that important business segment. In addition, businesses with no employees (or nonemployer firms) continue to perform better than most of their counterparts, with the exception of dollars delinquent over 90 days.

 

Other key findings from this month’s Business Benchmark Report include:

 

Risk score:

·         The national average commercial risk score for November was 60.54*. Based on a rolling six-month average, this score has declined by 1.4 percent, indicating higher risk of severe payment delinquency over the next 12 months.

·         Businesses of more than 1,000 employees continue to show the highest rate of projected severe delinquency.

·         Utilities companies still have the best risk score average of all industries (70.67), and Hospitality has the worst (56.05).

·         The Northeast region has the lowest risk score (56.46) and saw the largest decline in the period at 1.8 percent.

 

*Based on a 100-point scale

 

Average days beyond terms (DBT):

·         The national average DBT for November was 5.16. This number has increased by 4 percent, indicating overall payment behavior is continuing to slow. 

·         Health Services has the best average DBT at 4.02, while Construction has shown the worst payment performance, coming in at an average of 9.09 DBT.

·         The Mountain States region has the worst payment performance, with an average of 8.1 DBT.


Percent of dollars delinquent:

·         A bright spot perhaps: For midsize to large businesses (100 to 1,000 employees), the percent of dollars delinquent is improving. However, the percent of dollars 91-plus days delinquent is only improving in businesses with 500 to 1,000 employees.

·         The average percent of dollars delinquent for November was 14.7 percent (a 2 percent deterioration), and the percent of dollars now 91-plus days delinquent is 5.9 percent (a 7 percent deterioration). The continued growth in severe delinquency reinforces the continued deterioration in payment performance nationwide.

·         Construction has the worst percent of dollars delinquent (25.34 percent) and continues to deteriorate in both percent of dollars delinquent and in the percent of dollars that are 91-plus days delinquent.

 

November

 

 

 

 

Six-month change

 

 

Risk score

Average DBT

Percent $ delinquent

Percent $ 91+

 

Risk score

Average DBT

Percent $ delinquent

Percent $ 91+

National average

60.54

5.16

14.7%

5.9%

 

-1.4%

4%

2%

7%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Number of employees

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nonemployer

61.10

4.56

11.4%

5.4%

 

-1.7%

2.7%

1.2%

4.6%

1 to 4

61.36

5.42

15.7%

8.3%

 

-0.9%

4.1%

4.4%

7.1%

5 to 9

58.47

6.72

16.3%

7.2%

 

-0.6%

6.0%

4.1%

7.4%

10 to 19

57.20

7.00

16.7%

6.5%

 

-0.4%

4.4%

3.5%

7.0%

20 to 49

57.63

6.97

17.1%

5.0%

 

0.2%

2.6%

1.5%

5.4%

50 to 99

57.79

6.75

17.8%

4.1%

 

0.6%

1.1%

1.0%

5.4%

100 to 249

55.92

7.11

18.1%

3.7%

 

0.7%

0.5%

-1.8%

5.8%

250 to 499

55.32

7.68

18.7%

2.6%

 

1.2%

0.2%

-4.1%

1.3%

500 to 999

56.60

7.73

21.7%

2.2%

 

1.5%

0.0%

-1.8%

-2.3%

1,000 and over

34.14

5.42

23.0%

3.2%

 

-10.0%

-0.5%

0.1%

8.9%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Risk score

Average DBT

Percent $ delinquent

Percent $ 91+

 

Risk score

Average DBT

Percent $ delinquent

Percent $ 91+

Industry group

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Agriculture

65.19

4.80

11.40%

5.81%

 

-0.80%

6%

13%

17%

Forestry

67.27

3.18

9.28%

3.88%

 

-0.44%

2%

12%

40%

Mining

63.40

4.35

13.72%

1.98%

 

0.66%

-1%

-14%

-19%

Construction

57.77

9.09

25.34%

10.25%

 

-0.80%

5%

3%

7%

Manufacturing

58.42

7.62

17.52%

4.79%

 

-0.27%

5%

0%

12%

Transportation

56.46

6.88

16.01%

7.65%

 

-1.08%

4%

-1%

8%

Communications

56.51

7.58

20.19%

8.97%

 

-0.79%

7%

0%

9%

Utilities

70.67

4.28

22.03%

7.37%

 

-0.31%

4%

3%

10%

Wholesale trade

59.35

6.66

14.42%

4.03%

 

-0.58%

4%

1%

7%

Retail trade

56.45

6.63

18.24%

6.12%

 

-0.68%

4%

3%

9%

Finance

57.09

6.74

17.06%

10.29%

 

-0.59%

5%

0%

2%

Insurance

64.59

5.07

7.24%

4.72%

 

-0.88%

8%

7%

11%

Real estate

60.42

5.57

5.12%

3.21%

 

-0.55%

6%

4%

10%

Hospitality

56.05

6.32

11.56%

3.63%

 

-0.32%

2%

-13%

-12%

Business services

59.43

7.08

17.35%

9.40%

 

-0.93%

7%

6%

15%

Health services

64.98

4.02

11.65%

3.96%

 

-0.20%

4%

2%

8%

Legal services

61.90

5.41

15.92%

10.07%

 

-0.45%

8%

4%

8%

Educational services

64.79

4.49

11.67%

5.09%

 

-0.38%

6%

3%

9%

Public admin.

65.14

4.28

17.49%

5.52%

 

-1.19%

6%

4%

17%

 



 

Risk score

Average DBT

Percent $ delinquent

Percent $ 91+

 

Risk score

Average DBT

Percent $ delinquent

Percent $ 91+

Region

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mid-Atlantic

62.37

4.45

13.3%

4.4%

 

-1.3%

7%

5%

11%

Midwest

61.75

5.42

16.4%

7.6%

 

-1.4%

2%

3%

7%

Mountain

60.20

8.10

19.7%

8.7%

 

-1.2%

1%

-13%

-8%

New England

61.94

4.05

11.8%

3.7%

 

-1.4%

7%

7%

11%

Northeast

56.46

3.96

14.5%

5.1%

 

-1.8%

6%

6%

12%

Northwest

63.04

6.67

15.0%

5.8%

 

-0.9%

2%

0%

4%

Plains

63.23

4.77

13.8%

4.2%

 

-1.0%

3%

9%

12%

South Central

60.03

4.66

15.5%

5.3%

 

-1.6%

4%

-3%

4%

Southeast

59.12

5.75

13.9%

5.9%

 

-1.4%

4%

4%

8%

Southwest

60.93

4.74

14.2%

6.5%

 

-1.3%

4%

-1%

7%

 

To see a visual representation of this data and other information broken down by state in an interactive map of the United States, go to http://www.BusinessCreditFacts.com/map


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