The number of businesses facing debt judgments fell in the first half of 2013, as a lack of business confidence suppressed borrowing, according to the government’s recorder of judgments the Registry Trust.

Some 59,895 judgments (a drop of 8% from the first half of 2012) worth £245.8m (a drop of 11%) were issued against businesses in the first six months of 2013.

The 2013 figures are half the peak of recorded debt judgments in 2009.

Registry Trust chairman, Malcolm Hurlston, said: ‘Businesses are hoarding reserves instead of investing owing to low business confidence. Added to a lack of lending from the banks there is a lower overall level of debt which is resulting in fewer court disputes.

‘In addition, the government has encouraged other routes to debt resolution to relieve the stress on the court system.’

However, he said the decrease in judgments did not mean debt problems had gone away. ‘On average in the first half of this year more than 270 businesses every working day have been issued with a debt judgment,’ he said.

The news follows a fall in the number of compulsory company liquidations for the second quarter of 2013 by 2.1% to 3,978, according to figures from government agency the Insolvency Service.