British businesses are considered to be amongst the worst payers in Europe, suffering a poor reputation with customers in the UK and abroad, according to research by credit insurer Atradius.

The study found that 42% of European companies believe that payment practices in the UK are poor or average, making it the lowest score of the 12 countries rated. Only Italy had a worse rating.

It found that 33% of European businesses said they experience payment delays from British customers very frequently or rather frequently. Again, only Italy scored a worse rating.

European businesses said that UK companies take on average 63 days to settle their debts, with only Italy taking longer at 74 days.