Compared to the same period in 2008, there has been a stark increase in businesses going bust in the first quarter of this year.

According to Equifax's latest Business Failures Report for the first quarter of 2009, there has been a 35% increase in companies going out of business.

However, Neil Munroe, external affairs director, Equifax, points out that when the 2009 quarter one figures are compared with the more recent quarter four 2008 figures the number of business failures rose by just 3.3%.

“It is hardly surprising that year on year the level of failures has increased so significantly," he said.

“At the beginning of last year we were only just starting to see the impact of the credit crunch and certainly the word ‘recession’ had not yet been uttered.

"But obviously things have been very different at the start of this year with consumer confidence really struggling to lift.

"However, what we do seem to be seeing is a slow down in what was a run-away train of failures at the end of last year.

"Compared to quarter four there has been just a 3.3% increase in the number of failures and some sectors and regions of the country have even recorded a drop in businesses going to the wall.

"It would be immensely dangerous to take too much from just one quarter’s performance, but it is a useful benchmark to watch in the coming months."