Data · Companies House
Cash position of UK retail, wholesale and motor trade companies in 2026
Draft, not published
66.3% of UK retail, wholesale and motor trade companies in our sample hold less cash than the creditors they must pay within one year. Across the whole sample the figure is 63.8%. Based on 309 companies in this sector with the figure tagged, from Companies House filings in June and July 2026.
Every figure we can publish for this sector
Each row shows what this sector reported, the same measure across the whole sample, and how many companies in the sector carried that figure. The counts differ by row because companies tag different fields, and the median ratio row uses its own smaller count: it needs both figures tagged and creditors above zero.
| Measure | Retail, wholesale and motor trade | UK-wide | Companies in this figure |
|---|---|---|---|
| With negative net cash (cash plus debtors, less creditors due within one year, below zero) | 40.8% | 37.2% | 211 |
| In net current liabilities (net current assets below zero) | 37.1% | 37.3% | 766 |
| Holding less cash than the creditors due within one year | 66.3% | 63.8% | 309 |
| Median cash as a share of creditors due within one year | 45% | 48% | 299 |
| With £1,000 or less in the bank at the balance sheet date | 19.2% | 20.6% | 412 |
| Median cash at the balance sheet date | £14,254 | £12,327 | 412 |
Reading these numbers
Retail, wholesale and motor trade sits close to the UK baseline on net current liabilities, 37.1% against 37.3%. On the near-term rows it comes out weaker. 66.3% hold less cash than the creditors due within a year against 63.8% UK-wide, the median company's cash covers 45% of those creditors against 48%, and 40.8% have negative net cash against 37.2%. Median cash of £14,254 is above the UK median of £12,327, and 19.2% had £1,000 or less in the bank against 20.6%. So the sector's middle balance is larger than the sample's while its median cover of near-term creditors is thinner, and only your own figures can say which of those describes you.
Where these numbers come from. The Companies House monthly accounts bulk product, which is free and public, for accounts filed in June and July 2026. Dataset 2026-08: 10,000 filings randomly sampled (seed-reproducible), 6,863 with usable iXBRL facts; SIC joined from BasicCompanyDataAsOneFile-2026-08-01. Balance sheet facts were read from the filings themselves; each figure carries its own count of companies, because companies do not all tag the same fields.
Small companies file balance-sheet-only accounts with no profit and loss, so nothing on this page describes cover over time. Every claim here is cash against what is owed. Full method, definitions and caveats. This sector page draws on 815 sampled companies.
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