Corporate insolvencies reach 'highest ever' figures in 2011
2011 is well on the way to setting a record for corporate insolvencies, according to Dissolve - a business specialising in company liquidations.
"This is more bad news about the state of corporate Australia," said Dissolve chief executive officer Cliff Sanderson, commenting on the most recent release of insolvency statistics from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
Statistics have been recorded in the current format since 1999, and 2011 has seen a number of "highest ever" figures. Over 900 companies (921) entered insolvency administration in the month of July 2011. The figure is down from June's 1,027 insolvencies, but still takes out the title of the highest July ever.
In the year to July 2011, there were 1,355 appointments by secured creditors - the major contributor being banks appointing receivers.
"Interestingly, the number of voluntary administrations, which have the stated purpose of saving a business, is the lowest on a 12 month basis," Sanderson said.
"This suggests that we are seeing a lot of companies that have previously ceased to trade being given their last rights," he added. The majority of those companies originally struck trouble in global financial crisis part one, Sanderson said.
"We are yet to see the full effect of recent troubles in the retail sector. So we expect that the numbers will continue to be poor through to the end of 2011," he said.
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