Economic recap
Another month with insolvency appointment figures on a downward trend while economic factors begin to squeeze businesses.
Those factors affecting the economy are little changed from prior month updates including;
Inflation
Increasing Costs of Living (now called a crisis)
Increasing Financing Costs
Falling House Prices and Sales Volumes across NZ
Supply Chain Issues (now increasing due to China zero Covid policies)
Increasing Wages
Low Unemployment Making Finding Staff Difficult
Tightening Margins
Looking at the Xero SME index graph, it shows April 2022 up by 20 points on previous months and on an upswing. However, it does not appear to be reflected in business confidence which has been falling as several of the economic factors, if not all, continue to affect their businesses.
Speaking to businesses and a reflection of the insolvency appointments we continue to see coming in, IRD remain restrained in their pursuit of delinquent debtors, shareholder disputes are making up a reasonable portion of appointments and staffing issues are what it causing concern rather than an inability to meet debts.
Company Insolvencies – Liquidations, Receiverships, and Voluntary Administrations
April 2022 appointment figures have successfully met the April 2020 appointment levels. This was previously our lowest April as it was immediately after and during the first set of lockdowns.
Solvent liquidations made up 37 of the 95 appointments, which is rather high and in line with the level of solvent liquidations seen at the end of the financial year. Shareholder liquidation appointments made up only 36 appointments for the month well below the 2021 monthly average of 61 shareholder appointments and the March figure of 90 shareholder liquidation appointments.
Notable Appointments:
Armstrong Downes Construction The first of the larger wellington construction outfits to hit financial trouble, the fallout from this may take a number of months the be felt by other businesses in the construction space.
Insolvency by Industry
“Construction & Property Development” hold on to their largest sector award for April 2022 with the remainder of the pie graph being a bit more shared out than past months. “Professional, Scientific and Technical Services made up a 13% share on the back of a number of solvent appointments in the month and were closely followed by “Food and Accommodation Services”, who frequent the top 3 industries.
Winding Up Applications
Winding up applications while not quite reaching 2021 April figures are a positive upwards track from the beginning of the year. As seen in the below graph IRD has begun processing applications. They remain below their average of 54% of total applications with making up only 40% in April it is still a move in the right direction to recover the large amounts owed to them from companies.
Of the winding up applications in 2021 that turned into liquidations and were not settled IRD saw 56% of their winding up applications go to liquidation. For the 2022c year to date only 42% of IRD’s winding up applications have ended up in liquidation. Both percentages remain below their 2021 levels and show room for improvement before IRD is back on top of the collections they are responsible for.
Personal Insolvencies – Bankruptcy, No Asset Procedure and Debt Repayment Orders.
While January 2022 was one of the lowest ever level for personal insolvencies April 2022 certainly gave it a good nudge trying to come in lower. The month saw only 28 Bankruptcies, 28 No Asset Procedures and 20 Debt Repayment Orders.
If you want to have a chat about any points raised or an issue you may have you can call on 0800 30 30 34 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.