Number of firms collapsing declines

A total of 140 companies collapsed in February, but the first two months of 2013 have seen significant annualised declines in business failure rates.

Data from business intelligence service Vision-net shows that the number of companies going out of business in February fell 32% year-on-year.

The latest monthly stats suggest the rate of business failures is slowing on a sustained basis.

January saw a 21% annualised drop in the number of businesses failing.

Vision-net managing director Christine Cullen said the survey continues to support “the possibility of recovery in the domestic economy”.

“Businesses should take these figures as an incentive to continue using smart business practices, such as detailed research into their marketplace,” said Ms Cullen.

Of the 140 failures in February, 99 went into liquidation, 39 entered receivership, and an examiner was appointed to two.

Dublin accounted for 44% of the month’s insolvency cases, followed by Cork and Kildare — accounting for 10% and 8% respectively.

Some 95 companies held creditors’ meetings during the month, with short- term debts of around €21m. The number of creditors’ meetings was slightly up on January’s tally, but debt levels were down by about €10m.

The main two sectors deemed to be high risk were construction and hospitality, with over two thirds of firms in the latter and 58% of companies in the former thought to be in danger of collapse.

There was a 7% year- on-year increase in the number of start-ups. Some 3,418 company and business start-ups were recorded during the month.

Of these, 2,277 were registered business names, while 1,141 new companies were incorporated.