Business Opinion Omnibus: R3's Business Distress Index

R3, the trade body for Insolvency Professionals, has been using the Business Opinion Omnibus on a regular basis since 2010 to monitor their ‘Business Distress Index’ (BDI). The index assesses levels of business growth (such as increasing profits, sales volumes and market share), as well as evaluating signs of business distress (e.g. redundancies and use of maximum overdraft facility). The ongoing analysis of these indicators enables R3 to identify and record trends in specific regions and sectors, as well as observing how their findings relate to wider economic data.

Three times a year a press release is issued by R3 documenting the latest data, and making comparisons to previous waves. These receive a high number of mentions in the press, including national, regional, trade and online.

In addition to the BDI, R3 also use the Business Opinion Omnibus to monitor the number of ‘zombie’ businesses that exist in the UK (i.e. those who are just paying the interest on their debts, and not the debt itself).

All press releases can be found here: www.r3.org.uk/news-room.