Company Bankruptcies on Record Course: AKV Expects Around 4,500 Insolvencies

"Austria is still heading for the third consecutive record year of bankruptcies," according to the assessment of the Alpine Creditors' Association (AKV) for 2025. Accordingly, the number of corporate bankruptcies increased by 3.53 percent to 2,173 cases in the first half of this year, a historic high. For the entire year, the AKV expects around 4,500 corporate insolvencies.

Total liabilities amounted to 7.82 billion euros in the first half of the year. In the same period in 2024, liabilities totaled 14.08 billion euros, which corresponds to almost a halving year-on-year (-44.4 percent). However, there are "significant uncertainty factors" here, as only a small portion of claims are recognized in the Signa insolvencies, and the AKV is based on the registered claims.

Signa Already Accounts for 94 Corporate Bankruptcies This Year

The 10 largest corporate insolvencies by liabilities this year are attributable to the real estate sector, with 9 out of 10 belonging to the Signa empire of the now-imprisoned entrepreneur René Benko. After the restructuring plans of Signa Prime and Signa Development were not confirmed by the court, numerous group companies have been liquidated through insolvency proceedings in recent months. Accordingly, 94 Signa companies went bankrupt in the first half of the year. Since the end of 2023, the Signa conglomerate has accounted for more than 150 corporate bankruptcies.

By industry, most insolvencies this year were in trade (523), construction (472), and gastronomy (362).

According to the AKV, the number of employees in companies at the time of insolvency opening has decreased by a quarter this year. The most employees were counted by Palmers Textil Aktiengesellschaft (515). The lingerie retailer had to file for bankruptcy in February, around 50 stores were closed, over a hundred employees and several franchise contracts were terminated. Palmers has been taken over by the Danish company Change of Scandinavia, and the company is to be continued.

Private Insolvencies Declining

Meanwhile, there was a decline in private insolvencies. Despite high inflation rates and rising unemployment, the number of opened private bankruptcies fell by 2.1 percent to 4,503 in the first half of the year. There were fewer private insolvencies in all federal states except Vienna (+7.3 percent). Total liabilities, however, increased to 579.6 million euros compared to the same period last year (first half of 2024: 547.5 million euros). The average debt was 128,700 euros, with men being significantly more indebted on average than women.

(APA/Red)

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