How the States went in 2013:
- February 2013 saw a large jump in insolvencies – in part due to the ATO’s decision to ramp up enforcement activity in late 2012.
- March 2013 saw a 4.6% decline in external administrations to 918 companies for the month.
- 2,506 companies have gone into administration so far in 2013 – whereas 2,655 companies went into administration during the March 2012 quarter.
- This means both 2012 and 2013 recorded far more administrations than for the same time for 2008 to 2011.
- Court wind ups in Australia are down 36.8% on February.
- Receivers and Managers Appointments increased 40.0% (mainly due to NSW’s 75.0% increase!).
- State by State the numbers were mixed:
- South Australia and New South Wales had increases of 36.4% and 5.0% respectively.
- Victoria, Queensland, and WA all recorded reductions of between 16% (Vic and Qld) and 24.5% (WA).
- New home sales continued a modest recovery, with HIA’s New Home Sales Report showing an increase of 4.2%.
- The Westpac – Melbourne Institute Consumer sentiment index peaked at 110.5 in March – this is the highest level seen since 2010, and reflects the current market sentiment that business confidence lifted marginally in March 2013.
- Manufacturing and construction activity continued to decline and has been in contraction since February 2012, according to the AIG/CBA’s performance indices (Australian Industry Group/Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s Performance of Manufacturing Index).
For all matters concerning insolvency law, contact the team at Irish Bentley Lawyers today.