A new report has found that fewer construction firms have been declared bankrupt in the past year.

The findings by the Insolvency Service, revealed that there was a 33% drop in the number of companies going bust.

In the 12 months to the end of March, 87 firms were forced into compulsory liquidation. This compares to 129 the previous year, and 198 in 2011/12.

The figures have been welcomed by the Scottish Building Federation (SBF), who said it hoped the "positive momentum" could continue.

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Vaughan Hart, Managing Director at SBF, said: "It's positive to see the number of building companies going bankrupt has continued to fall over the past 12 months.

"I hope this positive momentum can be sustained as the industry continues to recover."

He added: "That said, many construction companies are continuing to face challenges around cash flow, late payments and restrictive bank lending.

"We need to see efforts redoubled to tackle these problems within the industry and across the economy as a whole.

"That will help to put the industry on a firmer footing for the long term and ensure the number of construction companies forced out of business continues to decline."

(JP/IT)