INSOLVENCY figures for the six months to the end of June 2007 show the construction and engineering sectors suffering the biggest fallout.


They accounted for 37% of all corporate failures over the period according to consultancy Farrell Grant Sparks.

However the figures reveal a sharp reversal in the rate of insolvencies over the same period last year.

Between January and June 2007, 144 Irish companies were placed in voluntary liquidation, High Court liquidation, receivership or examinership.

That’s a fall of 26% and “bucks the trend”, said Declan Tate, the corporate recovery and insolvency partner of the group.

Given the slowdown in the economy and the continuing rise in interest rates affecting consumer and business confidence “the figures for the first half of this year present something of an anomaly”, he said.

They are down from 195 in the first half of last year to 144 for the half year to end June 2007.

That compares with 208 for the six months of 2005, a remarkable performance in the changed economic circumstances, he said.

Geographically, Dublin continued to be the black spot in the country, accounting for 41% of failures or a total of 59 against 93 last time.

Next worst in the league table of company failures was Kildare at 13. That compared with nine previously. Kildare, Clare and Wicklow were the only counties to show a worsening in performance.

Clare recorded a level of nine against three last time while closures in Wicklow rose from four to nine.

Cork’s company failure level came in at 12, down from 15, ranking it third in the table of companies that ceased to function as going concerns during the period.

“If you compare these to the number of corporate failures recorded in the same period for 2005, the decrease becomes even more apparent showing a staggering 31%,” said Mr Tate.

While construction and engineering constitute the worst performing sector the report said the numbers were still down from 71 in 2006 to 53 this time round.

It added the improvement was due to the fact that the sector was better capitalised, adding that it was also benefiting from more hands-on management of working capital requirements.

Historically these have been primary factors in failure within this sector.

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