Surfachem Limited reported an average of 78 days to pay its suppliers in the six months to 30 April 2026, with 24% of its invoices paid more than 60 days after it received them.
The next slowest were Lanes Group Limited at 75 days, ASD Limited at 68 days, John Cotton Group Limited at 66 days (the six months to 31 August 2026) and David Wood Baking Limited at 59 days (the six months to 30 May 2026). Those reports cover the six months to 30 June 2026 unless shown.
Across the 87 companies, the median company paid 61% of its invoices within 30 days, against 64% for all UK reporters. In all, 14 of the Leeds companies said half or more of their invoices were not paid within the terms agreed with the supplier; the median share paid late was 16%, against 15% nationally.
The largest shares of invoices paid outside agreed terms were reported by ASD Limited (91%), Ross & Catherall Limited (80%) and Foundation for Credit Counselling (68%).
The fastest payers were SharkNinja Europe Ltd, at 4 days; Stickyeyes Limited, at 6 days; Capita Customer Management Limited, at 11 days.
Of the 79 companies that also reported for a period ending about a year earlier, 39 were paying faster on average and 32 slower.
Construction and retentions
Of the Leeds companies, 20 reported construction contracts in their latest period, and 12 said those contracts include retention clauses, which let the paying party hold back part of each payment until the work is finished or its defects period ends. The typical standard retention rate was 5%. Companies reporting retention clauses include NG Bailey IT Services Limited, NG Bailey Facilities Services Limited and NG Bailey Limited (5% each). The construction and retention questions were added to the reports filed from July 2025, so they appear only in the most recent filings.
How the figures were worked out
Large companies and limited liability partnerships must publish their payment figures every six months under the Reporting on Payment Practices and Performance Regulations 2017. The figures here are what each company filed on the government’s Check payment practices service, published as open data under the Open Government Licence v3.0, as downloaded on 3 November 2026. Each company’s latest report is used, counting only reports for periods that ended on or after 4 May 2025. Companies are placed in Leeds by the registered office address held by Companies House (data as at 1 September 2026), using the LS postcode area. A registered office is where a company is registered, not necessarily where it trades or employs people. The median is the middle company when all are ranked. Reports with figures that cannot be right, such as an average above 365 days or a share above 100%, are left out. Figures for groups are as filed by each subsidiary. Companies whose latest figures look inconsistent with their earlier filings, such as an average more than double their previous report, are counted but not named.
Every company’s full payment record, report by report: Fair Payment.
Chart: Leeds Business News, from Check payment practices open data.
Fair Payment is published by Domain Farm Limited, which also publishes Leeds Business News.