Newly-released figures have shown that the number of construction companies going bankrupt has fallen.

In the second quarter of 2013, 18 companies were declared bust, but by Q2 of 2014, just 11 companies went bankrupt. This is a fall of 18% over the year to June 2014, compared to the previous year. Compared to two years' previously, this is a fall of 59% when construction-sector bankruptcies reached 196.

The news comes as figures showed the number of companies going bankrupt across the Scottish economy as a whole actually increased by 7% during the last quarter and by 53% during the past year, compared to the previous year. As a percentage of the Scottish total, bankruptcies in the construction industry fell from 22% during the year to June 2013 to 12% over the year to June 2014.

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Vaughan Hart, Scottish Building Federation Managing Director, said: "This is a further encouraging sign of the construction sector's ongoing recovery. We cannot afford to be complacent and the recovery isn't necessarily balanced across all sectors of the industry.

"We must also not lose sight of the extent to which the industry contracted over the past five years, with approximately 70,000 jobs or 30% of the industry workforce lost between 2008 and 2013. We are also conscious of those businesses that have been forced into closure and those that are continuing to sustain trading difficulties.

"SBF is working hard to support our members to ensure that each of these companies have every chance to remain economically sustainable and are looking forward to a more positive future. A continued reduction in the number of building companies being forced into bankruptcy will help to rebuild confidence and morale as the industry moves forward."

(JP/CD)