2024-25 Societal Impact Report: Building Resilience and Leadership in a Fragmented World

Today we publish The IFT’s 2024-25 Societal Impact Report, based on a survey of our independent members and analysis of company distress data.

The report indicates that high levels of corporate distress in the UK persist, with corporate distress up across the board affecting almost every UK sector, with real estate and energy the hardest hit, increasing by a fifth (20%+).  Looking forward, inflationary pressures, management fatigue, economic uncertainty and adaptability were cited by IFT members as major pressures distressing businesses to the end of 2025 and into early 2026.

Our report highlights a number of the broader challenges facing organisations, and within an uncertain socioeconomic landscape businesses may feel that there’s limited room for manoeuvre, but turnaround is all about using the scope of your control to stabilise, improve and grow.

Even with the challenges, IFT members have delivered significant positive outcomes for UK businesses throughout 2025, including:

• £2.8 billion in added shareholder value generated by independent members
• Over £2 billion of new money into turnaround projects worked on by IFT members to support business turnaround
• 59,562 jobs safeguarded, enabled by IFT members’ turnaround expertise, representing a slight increase over the previous year

We have sought to focus this year’s report on some of the key challenges facing businesses, including volatile supply chains and the pressures of energy costs, but within this to highlight potential solutions and opportunities to transform. The report also discusses the approaches developed by IFT members to successfully lead turnaround and transformation and implement governance structures that support adaptability and growth.