Of the 139 companies that were made insolvent in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022, 27 were active in the previous year, which is a 49% decrease from the same quarter in 2022 when they were 53. Thereof, there were 11 insolvencies in construction (up by 1 from Q1 in 2021), 4 in wholesale and retail trade and vehicle repair (2 fewer than in 2021), 7 in tourism industries (46% decrease) and 5 in other industries (79% decrease).
On average, there were 184 employees in the previous year for companies made insolvent in the first quarter of 2022, which is a 52% decrease from the first quarter of 2021 when they were 384. Judging from the number of employees in the previous year, there was an increased effect of insolvencies in the first quarter of 2022 in construction, where the number of employees in the previous year was 109, which is a 24% increase from the same period in 2021. By the same measure, there was a decreased effect of insolvencies from the same period in 2021 in all other industries.
There were 53 corporate insolvencies registered in March 2022. Thereof, 12 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 60% decrease from March 2022.
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.