The number of UK companies whose creditors have taken action against them in the first quarter of 2009 has nearly doubled against the same period last year, as the frequency of corporate failure rises unabated.

Begbies Traynor, the restructuring and insolvency specialist, has found that the number of UK companies with “critical problems” has increased 87 per cent while those with “significant problems” jumped 60 per cent in the first quarter of 2009 compared with the first quarter of 2008.