Construction & trade in crisis

More than 6,000 company insolvencies forecast for 2024

An increase of 27 percent to 1691 cases is expected in the first quarter.(Bild: Marco2811 - stock.adobe.com)

After the calm insolvency period around corona and the subsequent approach to pre-pandemic bankruptcy figures, a significant increase in company insolvencies is expected this year. The construction and retail sectors are particularly affected by the crisis.

The creditor protection association KSV1870 expects an increase of around 15 percent in 2024 compared to 2023, or from around 800 cases to at least 6,200 company bankruptcies. Private insolvencies are expected to reach 9500 - around 500 more than in the previous year.

Already more bankruptcies in 2023
In the first quarter alone, as at the end of March, there was a projected increase in corporate insolvencies of a good 27% to 1691 cases compared to the same period last year. In the last quarter of 2023, there were already around 150 more bankruptcies than in the previous quarters of the previous year, at 1450.

According to KSV, the first quarter of 2024 was the most insolvent since 2009. Due to several major insolvencies - which appear quite small in light of the Signa mega-bankruptcies - each of which exceeded ten million euros, provisional liabilities increased by 146.2% to 992 million euros.

Parallel to the rising insolvencies, the number of employees affected has also doubled to 8,200, while the number of creditors has increased by 37.6 percent to 12,800.

Hopes for housing package
The KSV1870 extrapolation shows that the construction industry is in first place for insolvencies with 312 insolvent companies (up 17 percent) since the beginning of the year. The industry is urgently hoping for a housing package that the government wants to pass in the National Council this week. The package is worth around two billion euros.

The retail sector is in second place with a total of 306 bankruptcies (up 33 percent). The largest company bankruptcy by liabilities so far this year concerns Windhager Zentralheizung Technik from Salzburg with liabilities of 78.2 million euros.

In the first quarter of 2024, a total of 2,265 private debt settlement proceedings were opened - 25 per day. This was 4.2 percent more than in the previous year.