The risk of business failure in some of East Anglia’s key hospitality and retail sectors is continuing to fall, according to research by R3, the trade body for insolvency practitioners.

Among the strongest performers in February and March were hotels, pubs and general retail, with the proportion of businesses at high risk of insolvency in each sector falling.

The research also highlights a month-on-month strengthening in the restaurant, construction, property and professional services sectors in East Anglia, which have all shown a fall in businesses with a higher than normal risk of insolvency since the end of February.

R3 eastern region chairman Frank Brumby, a director at Isadore Goldman, said: “Whilst a significant number of businesses continue to tread a fine line between insolvency and survival, these figures are certainly encouraging.

“I would expect them to improve over coming months as we see a rise in regional investment and a growth in national GDP.”

R3 uses research compiled from Bureau Van Dijk’s “Fame” database of company information to track the number of businesses in key regional sectors that have a heightened risk of entering insolvency in the next year.

This positive economic picture for the region is echoed by R3’s latest Business Distress Index, which charts company performance across the East of England.

Published earlier this year, the research found the local economy in increasingly robust shape, with a record 82% of the region’s businesses showing at least one key indicator of growth.

More than half (59%) of those surveyed in the East of England had experienced a rise in sales volumes, while a similar number (51%) were showing increased profits. Almost half (40%) said their business was expanding and a third (36%) said they were growing their market share.