In absolute numbers, the hospitality industry is one of the hardest hit sectors: 398 companies went bankrupt in the past three months. — © David Van Hecke
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What was feared has come true: now that the support measures in the context of the corona pandemic are being phased out, the number of bankruptcies is on the rise. No fewer than 973 were pronounced in March, half more than in 2021. This brings the total for the first quarter to 2,439, even more than 48 percent more. “And that’s just the beginning,” fears business information specialist Graydon.
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Kristof Simoens
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With 973 bankruptcies in March alone, we are almost back to pre-corona level: in March 2020, the month in which the first lockdown started, 982 bankruptcies were pronounced. “The month of March seems to herald an important turning point in the evolution of bankruptcies, now that the commercial courts are no longer limited to those files that were already pending before the first lockdown: now also companies that were involved during the corona crisis themselves are also being targeted. difficulties have arisen,” it sounds.
“Just a start”
Graydon expects that the number of bankruptcies will only increase in the coming months. On the one hand, because many creditors are still reluctant to sue in bankruptcy and because quite a few companies have still requested and received deferment of payment. On the other hand, because companies are fully confronted with new shocks, such as “the accelerating inflation, the associated rising wage costs, supply problems and the effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine”. This too cannot but have consequences in the long run.
According to Graydon, this sharp evolution can only be tempered by maintaining payment deferrals, extending or further rolling out measures taken previously and even possibly rolling out additional measures.
Construction and catering
All in all, 2,439 bankruptcies were pronounced in the past quarter. 4,319 jobs were lost. Remarkable: these are all companies with fewer than 100 employees.
In absolute numbers, the construction industry has been hit the hardest: 460 companies in that sector went bankrupt (40.2 percent more than last year). This is followed by the hospitality industry (398 bankruptcies, +70.8 percent) and services to companies (335 bankruptcies, +52.3 percent).
The sector that suffered the hardest in percentage terms in the first quarter was transport: 158 companies went bankrupt in the past three months, an increase of 88.1 percent. That 158 is also the highest number ever recorded in the sector during a first quarter.
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