← Back to Reports

Northern Ireland Payment Practices Report 2020

•By PaymentCheck•Reports

Northern Ireland Companies Significantly Outperform UK Average on Payment Practices

The Numbers

  • Companies analysed: 59
  • Northern Ireland Average PaymentCheck Score: 58.5/100
  • UK Average PaymentCheck Score: 50.0/100
  • Northern Ireland outperforms the UK by 8.5 points
  • Top PaymentCheck Score: 96.2/100 (NORTHERN IRELAND WATER LIMITED)
  • Lowest PaymentCheck Score: 0/100 (BRS SYSTEMS LTD)

What Stands Out

While Northern Ireland's average payment score is better than the UK's, the spread is incredibly wide, suggesting inconsistency. The Environment sector is the best-performing, but with just one company in the data, it's hard to draw significant conclusions.

Best Payers

Northern Ireland's top payers demonstrate exemplary performance, significantly exceeding the average. NORTHERN IRELAND WATER LIMITED leads the pack with an impressive 96.2/100, followed by POWER NI ENERGY LIMITED (94.4/100) and SSE AIRTRICITY ENERGY SUPPLY (NI) LIMITED (91.7/100), highlighting the strong payment practices within the utilities sector. BRS GOLF LIMITED (88.6/100) and ALLSTATE NORTHERN IRELAND LIMITED (88.1/100) round out the top five, showcasing positive behaviour across different industries.

Worst Payers

The bottom five payers reveal serious issues with payment practices. BRS SYSTEMS LTD scores a concerning 0/100, indicating significant problems, while THOMPSON AERO SEATING LIMITED (10.2/100), MACNAUGHTON BLAIR LIMITED (13.9/100), CRANSWICK COUNTRY FOODS (BALLYMENA) (20.7/100), and DIAGEO NORTHERN IRELAND LIMITED (25.7/100) all fall far below the average, potentially impacting their suppliers. Companies dealing with any of these businesses need to be extra diligent, and could use a late payment calculator to work out the legal interest they can claim.

Sector Breakdown

The sector breakdown is limited by the small sample sizes. While the Environment sector boasts a high average of 96.2, this is solely based on NORTHERN IRELAND WATER LIMITED. The Energy sector, with four companies, averages 86.3, suggesting relatively strong payment performance within this industry. The Hardware, Financial Services, and Agriculture sectors have averages of 83.0, 80.1, and 77.7 respectively, but the representational nature of these figures is weakened by each representing only one or two companies.

Despite a higher average score, Northern Ireland's payment practices are far from universally positive, with individual companies exhibiting payment scores all the way from 0/100 to 96.2/100.