BUSINESS failures in Sussex and the South East jumped by only 6.9 per cent last year.

The rise was the lowest in the UK outside London.

Across the UK as a whole the

figure was 12 per cent with the

number of companies collapsing at its highest for five years, according to statistics just released.

Research by business information group, Dun & Bradstreet, revealed 43,365 companies went bankrupt or were wound up during 1999 - around 830 every week.

And D&B analysts warned more failures could be on the way if the "Millennium Bug effect" hit

businesses.

Philip Mellor, senior analyst at D&B, said any real effects would

be worsened by unscrupulous

companies using the bug as an excuse for not paying bills on time.

He said: "The cheque has been lost in the computer could be as familiar an excuse as the cheque has been lost in the post."

But while the number of business failures is forecast to rise at first in 2000, the economic recovery is expected to reverse the trend in the second half of the year.

Mr Mellor added: "From past experience it takes at least a year for an upturn in the economy to reduce the number of business failures."

The nationwide pattern of company closures added weight to arguments that the UK had suffered from a two speed economy over the last year. In contrast to the modest rise in Sussex and the South East, Wales saw business failures jump by 26.1 per cent while failures in the East Midlands rose by 24.8 per cent.

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