KSV reports more company bankruptcies, warns of "zombie companies"

However, liabilities and the number of affected employees decreased. The KSV is concerned about the higher proportion of bankruptcies that were not opened due to lack of cost coverage. In this context, the credit protection association criticized the new anti-fraud law.

"The business situation is stagnating, the free fall has now been stopped," summarized KSV CEO Ricardo-José Vybiral regarding the economic background of the bankruptcy statistics. He positively highlighted the increased number of business start-ups, which would significantly exceed business closures. In addition, the average equity ratio of companies has increased.

While opened bankruptcies rose by 1.5 percent to 4,222 cases, the increase in non-opened cases was more significant at 8.5 percent, reaching 2,635 cases. In these cases, there is not even 4,000 euros available in the company to cover the minimum costs for the proceedings, explained KSV insolvency manager Karl-Heinz Götze. The number of creditors increased by around eight percent, while the number of affected employees decreased by almost 28 percent. The estimated liabilities were more than halved compared to 2024, to around 8.4 billion euros. However, the previous year was marked by some major bankruptcies from the Signa empire of René Benko.

Criticism of the Anti-Fraud Package

Götze described the anti-fraud law passed yesterday in the National Council as a "black hour for the Austrian economy." With the law, the state would be preferred as a creditor. The concern at KSV: The public sector no longer has such a great interest in filing creditor applications for bankruptcy early. As a result, companies would continue to exist longer as "zombie companies," bankruptcies would be delayed, and creditors would more often go empty-handed.

The development varied greatly depending on the federal state. In Burgenland, corporate bankruptcies decreased by about a third. There were significant increases in Salzburg (plus 22.7 percent), Upper Austria (plus 20.8 percent), and Tyrol (plus 14.9 percent). The largest bankruptcy of the year also came from the Signa environment: Signa Prime Capital Invest GmBH with liabilities of 870 million euros.

Little Change in Personal Bankruptcies

There was little change in personal bankruptcies. They remained just above the previous year's level with slightly over 8,800 cases. However, liabilities here increased by almost 18 percent. The development was relatively evenly distributed across the country. Outliers were Tyrol (minus nine percent) and Vorarlberg (plus 8.2 percent).

(APA/Red)

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