Dutch business bankruptcies up 47 percent since January; The worst start since 2017

Some 1,392 businesses, institutions and organizations were declared bankrupt since January 1, an increase of about 47 percent over the same period in 2023. That was the highest total for the first four months of the year since January-April 2017. On a monthly basis, business bankruptcies rose by 6 percent.

The figures include 167 sole proprietorships that were declared bankrupt during the period, and 1,225 businesses established with another legal form. The totals do not include personal bankruptcies, which also reached 135, the most since the first four months of 2021. That was one year after the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The overall trend has generally been rising since August 2021, when a record low monthly total of 109 was recorded. “From May 2022, the number of bankruptcies was continuously higher than in the same month a year earlier.” Comparing annual periods is necessary to get a handle on current trends, because figures can fluctuate greatly from month-to-month for a variety of reasons, the CBS said.

“The number of declared bankruptcies peaked with 911 in May 2013. The number of bankruptcies then decreased until August 2017,” the CBS wrote.

Last month, a total of 310 companies and 43 sole proprietorships were declared bankrupt. The total is 20 more than in March, reflecting a six percent increase. April’s total was slightly higher than the monthly average of 348 so far this year. The data from the CBS has been adjusted based on courtroom hearing dates, which are sometimes published with a delay of about two weeks.

When not accounting for court hearing dates, 402 companies, institutions, and sole proprietorships were declared bankrupt in April. The trade sector was hit the hardest, with 72 bankruptcies, a 2.4 percent increase compared to the month prior. At the same time, that sector has one of the highest amount of companies registered.

Bankruptcies in construction shot up to 62 in April, an increase from 36 in March. A relatively high 52 specialized business services firms went bust in April, though that was down slightly from 55 a month earlier.

The number of bankruptcies as a ratio against total numbers of businesses per sector was found in transportation and storage last month. There were 39 bankruptcies in that sector last month, up from 26 the previous month. Hospitality and catering bankruptcies were relatively flat at 28. Communication and IT bankruptcies also jumped from 12 in March to 20 in April.

Personal bankrutpcies now total 135 since January 1. That is 28 more than a year earlier, an increase of just over one-fourth. It is the highest number of personal bankruptcies for the start of a year since 2021, when 136 people went into bankruptcy.

Last month, 22 people were declared bankrupt, down from 33 the previous month. That brought the monthly average for 2024 down to just below 34.