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What has happened? The struggle among Finnish construction companies intensified in August.
Statistics Finland has reported that bankruptcy proceedings were launched against 42 such firms last month, representing a new record in an already difficult year for the sector. Between January and August, 294 construction companies entered bankruptcy proceedings, leaving the sector on track to experience its worst year since the early 2010s.
What else? The problems in construction sector have also affected the recruitment agencies providing labor force for these companies. Selekta Rakennus, for example, reported last week it had entered corporate restructuring after a sharp drop in revenue in the first six months of the year due to a slowdown in construction, with no sign of a quick recovery on the horizon.
The recruitment agency said it expects annual revenue of around €4.5 million, almost €6 million less than in 2022.
Context. Statistics Finland said the number of new bankruptcy proceedings across sectors surged by more than 20% year on year to 283 in August 2023, a new high since the 2013-2014 eurozone crisis.
Quote. “The number of companies that have been subject to bankruptcy proceedings in the past 12 months has risen to the level of the eurozone crisis in 2013–2014 but not as high as during the financial crisis of 2009,” commented Tommi Veistämö, a senior statistician at Statistics Finland.
Juhana Brotherus, the chief economist at Yrittäjät, noted that the number of bankruptcies will remain high until the end of the year before the situation improves as a result of a turnaround in economic development and interest rates.
“This year we will approach the numbers of the financial crisis, when for the first and only time this millennium there were more than 3,200 bankruptcies,” he wrote in his rapid analysis.
Источник: Helsinki Times
