Record number of major insolvencies in Germany
The number of insolvencies of major German companies reached a new all-time high in the third quarter of this year. According to the latest insolvency report published by the German financial journal Finance, a total of 33 companies filed for insolvency in Germany between July and September 2019 – more than ever before. With a total of 31 major company bankruptcies, the fourth quarter of 2018 was still the period with the highest number of insolvencies.
In addition, the current number of insolvency applications in Q3 has almost doubled compared to the second quarter of this year alone. Between April and June, a total of 18 companies went bankrupt in Germany.
Overall, however, the current wave of insolvencies is still limited to smaller companies in the upper medium-sized sector. According to the report, there were particularly many collapses among companies with sales of 20 to 50 million euros. For companies with both over 50 and over 100 million euros in sales, however, the figures for insolvency applications were still similar to those of previous quarters.
Nevertheless, one big player in particular experienced in Septemberprobably the best-known bankruptcy: the insolvency of the British travel group Thomas Cook. This also affected the German subsidiary Condor with around 3,700 employees alone. In terms of turnover, the insolvency of the energy trading company Natgas is regarded as the largest in the third quarter. The Potsdam-based company had a turnover of four billion euros. Finance
(Image rights: istockphoto.com/RapidEye)