According to the final statistics from the creditors’ protection association Creditreform, the number of proceedings actually opened increased by 34.6 percent to 2,099 compared to the first half of 2023. Particularly worrying is the massive increase in insolvencies rejected due to lack of assets by 14.7 percent to 1,264 cases. “The pandemic no longer plays a role in insolvencies,” says the managing director of Creditreform Austria, Gerhard Weinhofer. “On the other hand, the ongoing economic downturn is having a negative impact. Order books are increasingly emptying, but costs continue to rise, and there are also bureaucratic hurdles. Companies are fighting on numerous fronts and are increasingly losing this battle.”
Outlook more pessimistic than during the pandemic
According to a Creditreform survey, the business outlook for Austrian companies is currently more pessimistic than at the height of the pandemic. Declining revenues, orders and investments characterize the current business climate, which has not been this negative for decades.
The insolvency liabilities totaled around 11.2 billion euros, and around 11,000 jobs were affected. In particular, the first half of the year was marked by insolvencies of companies in the Signa Group and of René Benko as a sole proprietor, but also well-known companies such as Fisker GmbH, Windhager Zentralheizung Technik GmbH and Brucha GmbH.
In a comparison of federal states, Vorarlberg (+74.1 percent), Burgenland (+67.0 percent) and Styria (+33.2 percent) recorded the highest increases in insolvency cases. Vienna remains the most affected with almost 15 insolvencies per 1,000 companies, while Tyrol has the lowest insolvency rate with 5 insolvencies per 1,000 companies.
Bankruptcies in industry have risen particularly sharply
Across all sectors, trade (625 bankruptcies), construction (598) and business-related services (500) were most affected by bankruptcies. However, bankruptcies rose particularly sharply in industry (+44.6 percent), in the credit and insurance sector and in transport (+44.4 percent).
For the whole of 2024, Creditreform predicts more than 7,200 corporate insolvencies, a new record in 15 years.
The number of private bankruptcies remained almost unchanged in the first half of the year at just over 5,000 (+0.5 percent). “Despite rising unemployment and growing living costs, the trend in private bankruptcies is stagnating and even remains below the pre-coronavirus level,” says Weinhofer. “The fine-meshed social safety net, including state aid, in combination with high wage agreements, makes Austrians more crisis-resilient in the face of the multiple crises.” The number of debt settlement proceedings opened rose by 1.6 percent to around 4,600, while the number of bankruptcies rejected due to lack of assets fell by 11.3 percent to 392 proceedings.
Average debt at 55,000 euros
A third of the debtors are failed self-employed people. The adjusted average debt is around 55,000 euros.
