Almost €500m in court judgments registered in first half of this year

Almost €500m in judgments have been registered in the courts in the first six months of the year, according to the information services company Experian.

There have been 3,164 judgments registered in the first half of 2012, with a total value of €482,718,200. This is lower than the same period in 2011, when 3,949 judgments were registered and the value reached €515,313,671.

While the value of judgments being registered against companies and individuals may have declined in the first six months of the year, the number of liquidations, examinerships, and receiverships increased by 8%.

The manager at Experian Gazette, Bernard Ball, said being able to monitor which companies were having judgments registered against them was more important than ever.

“The data demonstrates how it has never been so critical for companies to monitor the financial situation of customers and potential customers as it is in today’s business environment,” he said.

The vast majority of the judgments were registered against individuals. There were 2,189 judgments registered against individuals while 975 were registered against businesses.

On average, the value of the judgments against individuals were worth six times as much as judgments which were registered against companies.

The average judgment against a company was for €30,200 while the average judgment against an individual was €207,000.

Despite the county having the lowest number of judgments registered at only 19, Leitrim had the highest average individual judgment at €2,875,500. Kerry had the lowest value average judgment against individuals with €15,500.

While the registering of court orders was marginally down, the first six months of 2012 were still tough on businesses. Figures from RSM Farrell Grant Sparks show that 1,036 companies were placed in liquidation, receivership, or exam-inership — an increase of 8% on the 963 failures for the same period in 2011.

Property and construction is still the sector suffering most failures. Some 475, or 46%, of all businesses that have failed in 2012 were in property of construction.

A partner at RSM Farrell Grant Sparks, Declan Taite, said: “The failures in the property and construction sector are no longer restricted to medium sized developers and or sub contractors. 2012 continues to see a number of high profile collapses within the sector.”