Retailers face financial woes

More than 4,000 UK retail groups experienced major financial difficulty in November and early 2010

is expected to see a large number of chains collapsing, according to stark new research for Telegraph Media Group by Begbies Traynor, the corporate recovery specialist.

Some 4,021 retailers faced "significant" problems over the month of November, just 2pc fewer than in November last year when the consumer economy was crippled by the global banking collapse. Scotland and the South-West of England saw the number of distressed stores rise significantly over November compared to last year while 75 retailers had "critical" problems in November, compared to 100 last year.

The figures are part of Retail Stress Indicator in conjunction with Begbies Traynor, a new survey which will run weekly on telegraph.co.uk from this week. The Stress Indicator will show how many retailers are in trouble and the geographic region of the stores in question. The retailers could be chains as well as stand-alone stores.