The number of business failures is at its lowest rate since June 2007, according to information services firm Experian.

Figures show that UK businesses across the UK witnessed an 8% improvement in their combined financial strength score from 79.46 in January 2009 to 81.16 January 2010, while the rate of insolvencies fell to 0.07% in January 2010, with seven in every 10,000 businesses failing, compared to an insolvency rate of 0.09% in January 2009 and 0.11% in December 2009.

Rolf Hickmann, managing director of pH, an Experian company, says: “It’s encouraging to discover that not since the current financial crunch started have so few firms become insolvent in a single month. While it is too early to predict whether we are fully out of the woods, this does hint at an improvement in the health of UK businesses, something which is reinforced by the financial strength view provided by January’s data.”