Metallisation, a small business in the Black Country, did not mend the roof while the sun was shining. Now it is raining – both literally and metaphorically.

As fat raindrops drum on a leaky office roof, Rob Hill, its financial director, feels deluged by worrying news. He has been told that the company’s insurer Atradius is reducing cover on debts owed to Metallisation from 90 per cent to 60 per cent.