@Risk

Experian’s latest Business Benchmark Report is encouraging.

Business performance in Q4 improved in most categories quarter over quarter, and even though certain metrics remain negative from a year-over-year perspective, it’s clear many companies are working toward a more positive business profile.

For example:

Risk scores remained relatively stable over Q4 and the previous year. Interestingly, the largest businesses (those with more than 1,000 employees) showed the greatest quarter-over-quarter improvement (2.2 percent), but the largest decline (14.7 percent) year over year.

Days beyond terms (DBT) appears to be stabilizing quarter over quarter, as well. However, (more…)

There’s no doubt that small businesses everywhere are feeling squeezed by the credit crisis. But, are some small businesses emerging as more creditworthy than others? If so, how can you make that distinction? At this point in the economic downturn, are there any indicators that can help predict which companies may be better credit risks?

Experian, a global information services company, delved into questions like these and recently released the results in a fascinating Market Insight Snapshot titled “Understanding the state of small-business risk.”

Experian tracked more than 300,000 small businesses in the U.S. from April 2007 to April 2009. Their analysis examined the rate of new derogatory events (meaning incidence of a new lien, judgment, collection, bankruptcy or severe payment delinquency) and uncovered several intriguing emergent trends.

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