Of the 418 companies that were made insolvent in the first quarter of 2023, 110 were active in the previous year, which is almost quadruple the number from the same quarter in 2023, when they were 29. Thereof, there were 35 insolvencies in construction, 13 in wholesale and retail trade and vehicle repair, 15 in tourism industries, and 47 in other industries.
On average, there were 423 employees in the previous year for companies made insolvent in the first quarter of 2023, which is a twofold increase from the same quarter of 2022, when they were 185. There was a decreased effect of insolvencies from the same period in 2022 in Construction, both according to the number of employees in previous year (-29%) and VAT turnover (-18%). Judging from both VAT turnover and the number of employees in the previous year, there was an increased effect of insolvencies in all other major industries. For instance, there was an increase in the number of previous year employees from 57 to 151 in tourism industries, compared with the first quarter of 2022. On the other hand, when comparing with the first quarter of 2021, there was a 10% increase in the number of employees in the previous year of companies that filed for insolvency in the first quarter of 2023.
There were 170 corporate insolvencies registered in March 2023. Thereof, 50 were for companies that were active in the previous year, i.e. they either had registered employees according to the official PAYE tax registry or turnover according to VAT reports. This is a more than fourfold increase from March 2022, while there was an 18% increase in the number of employees in the previous year.
Statistics Iceland publishes monthly updates on insolvencies of registered companies. The number of insolvencies for the latest month are temporary estimates and are subject to change with increased information on insolvency registrations from judicial authorities.