(PRNewswire)–Experian®, the leading global information services company, today announced the results of its monthly Business Benchmark Report. In February, the national average commercial risk score was 58.15,* improving by 1.8 percent over January’s number. Businesses with 250 to 499 employees have shown the greatest change in the percent of delinquent dollars, seeing a 5.7 percent improvement over the past six months. The largest businesses — those with more than 1,000 employees — have improved by 3.6 percent and continue to rank among the lowest rate of severe delinquency at 2.1 percent, far below the national average.
Other key findings from this month’s Business Benchmark Report include the following.
Risk score:
- The national average commercial risk score was 58.15, which improved over last month by more than a full point (or 1.8 percent), continuing to indicate signs of stability and improvement in the business sector.
- Utility companies still have the highest risk score average of all industries (68.39), while the hospitality, retail and finance industries continue to have the lowest average at 51.91, 51.77 and 49.88, respectively.
- The Plains states have the highest risk score average of all geographic areas (62.11), but North Dakota and Vermont showed the highest per-state average, with 66.80 and 64.46, respectively. The Northeast continues to have the lowest average risk score (55.30). However, the states with the lowest average scores are Florida (53.28) and Nevada (51.97).
Average days beyond terms (DBT):
- Health services, public administration and education services demonstrate the best payment performance and are well below the national average, coming in at 4.90, 5.27 and 5.55 DBT, respectively.
- New England and the Northeast show the best average payment performance, with 4.78 and 4.61 DBT, respectively. However, Alaska (2.74) and Mississippi (3.40) came in with the lowest average DBT per state. Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada had the highest, with 11.11, 11.52 and 12.00 DBT, respectively.
*Based on a 100-point scale
Percentage of dollars delinquent:
- The national average percentage of dollars delinquent for February improved by 3 percent over the past six months, and the percentage of dollars 91-plus days delinquent remained stable in February, after seeing a 2 percent improvement last month.
- The hospitality industry showed the greatest change, with a 13 percent improvement in the percentage of dollars delinquent and an 11 percent improvement in the percentage of dollars 91-plus days delinquent.
- The South Central and Mountain regions showed the greatest improvement in percentage of dollars delinquent (7 percent and 15 percent) and percentage of dollars 91-plus days delinquent (4 percent and 11 percent), respectively. Texas; California; and Washington, D.C., were among the areas with the lowest percentage of dollars delinquent, with an average of 10.01, 9.6 and 7.5, respectively.
