During 2014, 119 retailers entered into administration, compared with 183 in 2013, a drop of 35%. Almost a third (39) of the appointments occurred in the first three months of the year.  

There were similar improvement in the fortunes of businesses in the hospitality and leisure industry, where there was a 34% decrease in administrations in 2014 compared with the year before. The total number of administrations across all industry sectors tracked in the analysis was 1,302, or 20% lower than in 2013.

Almost all industries saw a decrease in administrations during 2014, with only the financial services (2.5%) and IT sectors (14%) witnessing an increase. Regionally, almost half of administrations took place in London (328 appointments) and the North West (280 appointments).

Lee Manning, restructuring services partner at Deloitte, said: ‘After a few turbulent years, we saw fewer casualties in the retail sector in 2014.

'As the economic situation improved, consumer confidence increased and the retail industry benefitted. Although the overall trend for the sector is positive, there will always be individual retail insolvency cases, as with the clothing chain Bank Fashion this week.

‘There is a clear pattern developing whereby we expect to see a permanent shift away from using administration as a restructuring tool for businesses with a greater emphasis towards constructive debtor-driven solutions involving negotiations with creditors, either informally or through the use of CVA’s where in both circumstances companies will work alongside restructuring professionals.’

However, the new year has already seen news of significant job losses at logistics and delivery company City Link which went into administration on Christmas Eve, while Bank, the clothing retailer with a significant presence in the North of England, has also been forced to call in administrators with 1,500 jobs put at risk.