Image: Erwin Wodicka
Compared to the previous year, there were eleven percent more company bankruptcies, the value is also just above that of the pre-crisis year 2019. In Upper Austria the situation is not so dramatic: according to projections, 255 companies have gone bankrupt in Upper Austria so far, a decrease of 1.2 percent compared to 2022 .
In the federal state ranking, this means fourth place behind Vienna (892), Lower Austria (518) and Styria (283). The number of bankruptcy openings is also increasing in Upper Austria, but the KSV does not see a “wave of bankruptcies”. The figures for Upper Austria are below those of 2019.
The areas of trade and maintenance/repair of vehicles, construction, tourism and gastronomy were hardest hit. Liabilities have risen sharply compared to the previous year: from 52 million euros to 143 million euros (as of June 14, 2023) – an increase of 175 percent. Across Austria, the total of liabilities is around one billion euros, which is due to the bankruptcy of Kika/Leiner.
“The bankruptcies are no longer as fragmented as they were last time. There are higher liabilities and the number of affected employees has also increased,” says Petra Wögerbauer from the creditor protection association. The number of employees affected in Upper Austria increased from 807 in the same period last year to 984 in the first half of 2023.
Of these, 169 employees work for the Linz plant manufacturer Hitzinger, this bankruptcy is the largest in the state so far. However, the KSV assumes that more will follow: the association expects around 530 corporate insolvencies in Upper Austria for the year as a whole. About 5,300 company bankruptcies are expected for the whole of Austria.
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