Petrofac Engineering Limited reported an average of 242 days to pay its suppliers in the six months to 30 June 2026, with 100% of its invoices paid more than 60 days after it received them.
The next slowest were Wavemaker Global Limited at 193 days, Ernst & Young (Emeia) Services Limited at 138 days, EY Global Services Limited at 130 days and Firstport Retirement Property Services Limited at 130 days. Those reports cover the six months to 30 June 2026.
Across the 2,085 companies, the median company paid 77% of its invoices within 30 days, against 64% for all UK reporters. In all, 198 of the London companies said half or more of their invoices were not paid within the terms agreed with the supplier; the median share paid late was 14%, against 15% nationally.
The largest shares of invoices paid outside agreed terms were reported by Global AD Sales Limited, UBS Asset Management (UK) Ltd and Investec 1 Limited (100% each).
The fastest payers were Bennett Management Contractors (GB) Limited, Mercury Pharmaceuticals Limited and Modis International Limited, at 1 day each.
Of the 1,913 companies that also reported for a period ending about a year earlier, 862 were paying faster on average and 812 slower.
Construction and retentions
Of the London companies, 383 reported construction contracts in their latest period, and 214 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 Lumentum Technology UK Limited, Wise Payments Limited and Fidelis Marketing Limited (10% 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 London by the registered office address held by Companies House (data as at 1 September 2026), using the London postal district (E, EC, N, NW, SE, SW, W and WC). 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; one London company was excluded for that reason. 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: London Business Daily, from Check payment practices open data.
Fair Payment is published by Domain Farm Limited, which also publishes London Business Daily.