‘Almost 50% of businesses at risk’

Nearly 50% of businesses are at risk of failure, according to research undertaken by business intelligence service Vision-net.

Stress tests of nearly 10,000 firms by the company judged that 49% are at high risk of failure — with most of these trading in the volatile sectors of hospitality, construction and retail.

“The trading conditions remain very challenging for companies, with many of them — particularly those in the hospitality and construction sectors — struggling to stay afloat as consumer demand remains weak and the property market continues to stagnate,” according to Vision- net’s managing director Christine Cullen.

“High levels of unpaid debt and cash-flow problems are hampering the capacity of companies to stay in business or scale, and this has a knock-on impact on jobs and growth,” she added. The latest data covering July forms part of Vision-net’s monthly company insolvency findings. June’s figures were broadly similar, with 12,000 stress tests showing 47% of firms in danger of going bust.

Vision-net’s updated July stats — published yesterday — also showed on average five companies collapsed every day during the month. The 131 insolvency cases were down by 15% on a year-on-year basis, but were up on the 116 failures measured during June.

July’s company failure cases consisted of 97 liquidations, 33 receiverships and one examinership. Just over 100 companies which held creditors meetings last month owed their short- term creditors over €37m, according to Vision-net.

The Revenue Commissioners and banks topped the list of creditors and figures showed €27.5m was awarded through the courts.