Rise in examinerships expected to continue

THE recent increase in instances of companies going into examinership is likely to continue, according to one of the country’s leading business advisory and accountancy firms.

“Figures published by Experian, Ireland’s Business Information Division, show a significant rise in the overall number of insolvency appointments made in the last quarter of 2007. It also highlighted a marked increase in the number of companies seeking protection from its creditors through the examinership process,” said Brendan O’Donoghue, director of corporate recovery and restructuring with Athlone-based company Russell Brennan Keane.

“During 2005 only four appointments were made, increasing substantially to 25 examinerships appointed in 2007 and indications for the first half of 2008 suggest this upward trend is continuing,” Mr O’Donoghue added.

Co Cork-based firm, Cisti Gugan Barra and the Waterford-based poultry producer, Cappoquin Chickens both successfully went through the examinership process this summer.

Examinerships differ from liquidations in that the process offers companies a period of time in which to be aided in dealing with their debts, rather than going out of business.

“The difficulty facing a lot of companies in today’s economy is that they haven’t seen the bad days or experienced a recession and, as a result, aren’t armed with the necessary skills to identify problems at an early stage,” said Mr O’Donoghue.