Rotterdam, Feb. 13, 2023 - In the first month of 2023, 205 companies went bankrupt in the Netherlands. The number is much higher than in January 2022. Then 132 companies went under, some 35 percent less than last month. Still, the pre-corona level is far from being reached. Indeed, in January 2020, 306 companies closed their doors for good.
Altares Dun & Bradstreet looks at monthly bankruptcies in the Netherlands and sees in which provinces and sectors they are pronounced. Like (almost) every month, most bankruptcies occurred in trade and retail: 40 in total. Business risk was highest in the province of Flevoland. Still, the figures are not too bad there either: 12 companies in total, or 0.025 percent of registered organizations.
In the "Specialist Business Services" sector, 29 companies went bankrupt. This is the highest number for that sector since the beginning of 2018. This large business group includes, for example, law and accounting firms, as well as advertising agencies, veterinarians and inspection agencies. Historically, the construction industry is almost invariably number two on the list. Construction had 27 bankruptcies in January this year.
Joris Peeters, Chief Data Scientist at Altares Dun & Bradstreet: "The media have reported a lot in recent weeks about a faltering business climate and a waning confidence in the future among companies. Our analysis shows that the number of bankruptcies is still not that bad: we are still well below pre-corona levels. At the same time, it is conceivable that in the coming months many organizations will be declared bankrupt that in recent years were only kept afloat by corona support from the government. Nor is this necessarily a bad thing. This is part of a healthy, dynamic economy."
The full bankruptcy report of Altares Dun & Bradstreet for January 2023 is available for download here.
