Retail firms paid their debts 22 days slower in Q2

But they had the lowest level of severely delinquent debt.

The average time for a Singapore retail firm to pay its debt has grown by 22 days or a whopping 157% from 14 days in Q2 2016 to 36 days in Q2 2018, DP Information Group, a part of the Experian group of companies, revealed.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector has been the biggest improver when it comes to payment behaviour, DP Information Group revealed. The sector has slashed 14 days off the average time a company takes to pay a debt – from 42 days in Q2 2016 to 28 days in Q2 2018.

Two other sectors have shown a strengthening of their payment behaviour. The Information and Communications sector is now paying their debts 13 days faster than three years ago, whilst the Services sector is paying their debts 12 days faster.

“Sustained growth has led to improved cashflow and creditworthiness amongst manufacturers. With more cash in the bank they are settling their debts faster, which is good news for their suppliers,” said James Gothard, general manager, credit services & strategy SEA of Experian.

For retail companies, Gothard noted that whilst they may be slower in payment, retail companies have the lowest level of severely delinquent debt, with just 6% of money owed still unpaid after 90 days.

Overall, it takes 33 days for companies to pay up, significantly slower than 29 days in Q2 2016 but faster 35 days in Q2 2017.

The payment behaviour of the sectors is revealed in an analysis of the quarterly Days Turned Cash National Average (DTC) - a measure of how quickly SMEs pay their debts. The DTC is compiled and published by DP Information Group (DP Info), part of the Experian group of companies, and is based on the payment data of more than 120,000 companies.