Liquidations and insolvencies dip in April and March

Johannesburg – The number of liquidations in April 2018 decreased by 24.7%, compared to April 2017.

Statistics South Africa released the liquidations and insolvency results for April 2018 and March 2018 respectively on Monday afternoon. The liquidation data was for April, while the insolvency data was for March.

"Compulsory liquidations increased by 12 cases, while voluntary liquidations decreased by 49 cases," Stats SA said.

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There was a year-on-year increase of 0.5% in the total number of liquidations in the first four months of 2018 (January to April). When only taking into account the three months from February to April, however, Stats SA recorded a decrease of 1.4% in the three months ended in April 2018, compared with the same period in 2017.

The financing, insurance, real estate, and business services industries suffered the most liquidations, with a total of 43. Eleven out of the 43 were compulsory and 32 were voluntary in the month of April 2018.

Insolvencies for March 2018 decreased by 21.8% compared to March 2017. 

"Seasonally adjusted insolvencies decreased by 2,9% in March 2018 compared with February 2018. This followed month-on-month changes of -10,0% in February 2018 and 57,0% in January 2018," Stats SA said.