Credit: Statec

According to the latest figures from Luxembourg's Ministry of Justice/STATEC, a total of 273 companies were declared bankrupt and ten were liquidated in the third quarter of 2024.

Bankruptcies

The number of bankruptcies rose sharply in the third quarter of 2024 (273 compared with 160 in the third quarter of 2023, or +71%). Excluding holding companies and investment funds, the increase is 60%, which shows that it is the real economy that is affected.

During the first nine months of 2024, the number of bankruptcies rose by 20% (837 compared with 697 judgments between January and September 2023). However, this figure falls to 10% if holding companies and investment funds are excluded.

According to initial estimates, bankruptcies led to the loss of 2,386 salaried jobs in the first three quarters of 2024, compared with 1,897 in the same period of 2023, an increase of more than 25%. We have to go back to 2013 to find similar or even higher levels of job losses.

The largest number of bankruptcies (226) concerned holding companies and investment funds. However, there were 147 bankruptcies in the construction sector, 28 more than in the same period in 2023 (+24%). Employee job losses are estimated at 1,048 (+45%), or around 44% of total employee job losses due to bankruptcies during the first three quarters of 2024.

The trade sector, for its part, suffered 125 bankruptcies during the first three quarters of 2024, seventeen fewer than during the same period in 2023 (-12%), and around 427 employee job losses (+75%).

There were 90 bankruptcies in the hotel and catering sector, ten more than in the same period of 2023 (+13%), with a consequent loss of some 311 jobs (+6%).

Liquidations

Liquidations fell sharply in the first three quarters of 2024 (-81%). 40% of the companies liquidated during the period under review were holding companies and investment funds.

The statistics on bankruptcies are based on the record of judicial decisions, taken from the Trade Register.

The number of bankruptcies is calculated as the sum of "openings" or "reopenings" minus the bankruptcies reported from the judicial procedure "judgments and rulings declaring bankruptcy". These figures are provisional.