Sharp decrease in bankruptcies in September compared to a year ago

Bankruptcies continued to decline in September, according to Statistics Netherlands. A total of 276 companies went bankrupt last month, 97 fewer than in September of the previous year, a 26 percent drop. Compared with August, the number of bankruptcies decreased by 1 percent.

In September, the bankruptcy rate, measuring the number of bankruptcies per 100,000 companies, stood at 7.5. This compares with 10.3 per 100,000 companies a year earlier. Since March, Statistics Netherlands has focused more on the bankruptcy rate, which it says offers a clearer view of trends in company insolvencies.

As was the case in August, the hospitality sector saw the highest relative number of bankruptcies in September. Nearly 47 out of every 100,000 hospitality businesses went bankrupt, compared with almost 29 a year earlier.

Atradius, a global credit insurance company, reported on Friday that it expects the number of bankruptcies to fall by 12 percent this year, followed by an 8 percent increase in 2026.

The company attributes the increase to a projected slowdown in economic growth, partly due to the stronger impact of U.S. import tariffs expected next year. This means that the trend in the number of bankruptcies in the Netherlands goes against the global pattern, Atradius notes. The credit insurer expects global bankruptcies to rise by 5 percent this year, followed by a 3 percent decline.