Q1 Benchmark Report shows U.S. businesses are making a comeback

Experian, a leading global information services company, on April 21 announced the results of its monthly Business Benchmark Report. Findings from the March report show that the national average commercial risk score is up 2.4 percent and overall delinquencies have declined since the beginning of the year. The national average percentage of dollars delinquent has improved by 5.9 percent, and the percentage of dollars 91-plus days delinquent has improved by 1.9 percent. Additionally, businesses in states with large metropolitan areas, such as California and Texas, had among the lowest rates of severe delinquency, coming in at 14.8 percent and 28.8 percent 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 58.60 in March. This is the third consecutive month of improvement (2.4 percent increase in 2010), highlighting the continuing improvement seen in the business sector overall.
• Although down slightly from February, the education services and public administration sectors have shown the greatest average risk score change, improving by 8.3 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively, since December.
• All geographic regions have shown marked improvement since December, improving by as much as 8.7 percent. The Plains states continue to have the highest risk score average of all geographic areas (62.56).
• The largest businesses (those with more than 1,000 employees) have seen a slight decrease in the average credit score from February, but have seen the greatest improvement over the last six months, with a 1.3 percent improvement.

Average days beyond terms (DBT):

• All business sizes, with the exception of non-employer firms, have shown significant improvement in their payment behavior over last month. The largest changes came from midsize to large businesses, or those with 100 to 999 employees showing as much as a 5.8 percent improvement.
• Payment performance from all industry groups appears to continue stabilizing, with some industries showing signs of improvement over the last six months. Hospitality, which has struggled during the downturn, has seen the greatest improvement in payment behavior over last month (by 2.8 percent), followed by public administration (by 2.3 percent).
• The Northeast and New England continue to show the best average payment performance, with 4.64 and 4.78 DBT, respectively. Some states with large metropolitan areas, such as Texas (5.7), California (5.25) and New York (4.15), all came in well below the national average of 6.28 DBT.

Percentage of dollars delinquent:

• Overall, delinquencies are declining. The national average percentage of dollars delinquent has improved by 5.9 percent since the beginning of the year, and the percentage of dollars 91-plus days delinquent has improved by 1.9 percent.
• Over the last six months, the average percentage of dollars delinquent has improved by 1 percent. Large businesses with 500 to 999 employees and midsize businesses with 100 to 249 employees have seen the greatest improvements at 2.1 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.
• Texas, Arizona and California were among the areas with the lowest percentage of dollars delinquent, with an average of 10.14, 9.6 and 9.27, respectively. Additionally, California and Texas ranked among the areas with the lowest rates of severe delinquency, coming in at 14.8 percent and 28.8 percent below the national average.