The number of furniture, flooring and furnishings companies filing for insolvency climbed to the highest level since records began in 2022.
424 companies were either placed into administration or liquidation through the 12 months of last year according to the latest data compiled by The Furnishing Report.
This figure, which is 81% up on 2021, is seen as the consequence of the withdrawal of Government Covid support measures alongside the end of the pent-up demand that sustained the industry so successfully during the pandemic.
The 424 total includes only major companies where administrators or liquidators were called in. In data that includes companies that were dissolved voluntarily, there were 4,818 companies that closed in 2022, up from 4,157 in 2021.