Seven firms a day going under as insolvencies rise

AN AVERAGE of seven companies went under every day between October 1st and 25th as the recession continued to bite, according to figures released today.

Business risk and credit analyst Vision-net said that 168 companies were declared insolvent between the beginning of this month and last Thursday.

The number is 38 per cent higher than during the same period last year. Of the total, 94 companies held creditors’ meetings, the first step in appointing a liquidator, leaving €38 million in unpaid short-term debt.

One of the highest-profile failures this month was businessman Bill Cullen’s auto dealership, Glencullen Holdings, to which Ulster Bank appointed restructuring specialist Kavanagh Fennell as receiver. The group owed Ulster Bank a reported €12 million. According to Vision-net, the receivership accounted for 10 companies out of the total number of insolvencies this month.

Vision-net’s figures count each individual entity separately, even where they form part of a larger group of companies.

Dublin accounted for almost half of all insolvencies, next worst was Wexford, which accounted for 10 per cent.

Businesses in the professional services, building, wholesale and retail, real estate, social and personal services, and manufacturing industries made up 72 per cent of all closures so far this year.

Vision-net’s figures show that the courts awarded 455 registered commercial and consumer judgements worth a total of €26.5 million in September.

The numbers show that 3,053 new companies and businesses began trading this month, a 19 per cent increase on last year.

Vision-net managing director, Christine Cullen, said the figures showed little sign of growth in the Republic’s domestic economy.

“While the economy remains challenging, companies can get a better fix on opportunities and pitfalls in doing business by professionally researching the trading environment and making key decisions based on sound intelligence,” she added.

Earlier this year, Kavanagh Fennell predicted that up to 1,700 businesses could go to the wall this year if trends for the first half of 2012 continued. The firm produces its own monthly table of insolvencies.