UK PLCS are sitting on £64bn of excess working capital – the amount of money a company requires to fund its day-to-day operations – according to Deloitte.
According to the research, excess capital is up from £61bn in 2010 and £59bn in 2009.
The report, Working Capital: The £64 billion question, found that companies are delaying payments to suppliers in order to help fund their working capital. On average, suppliers were being paid a week later in 2011 than two years earlier.
Andrew Harris, partner in Deloitte’s advisory development group, said companies’ cash piles would be “more than enough to pay the UK government’s debt interest payments for the next 18 months”.
“As the UK economy has technically entered a recession, cash and its effective use will continue to remain high on the corporate agenda,” Harris said.