The past few months have seen a steady flow of official data suggesting that GDP is up, unemployment and inflation are down and that the UK is growing faster than most other EU member states.
Indeed, both our latest UK economic outlook and the Fraser of Allander economic commentary confirmed that Scotland’s 2014 GDP performance outperformed all other regions outside of London.
So with all that reassuring information, it seems surprising to learn that eight out of 10 companies fail within 18 months of opening their doors.
Richard Branson blogged this Bloomberg data last year, stating that while there is no hard and fast rule that distinguishes the two-in-10 businesses that survive from those that fail, for him, the number-one company killer is finance and specifically cash-flow problems.
