Credit: STATEC

Luxembourg's national statistical office, STATEC, has reported a total of 1,181 bankruptcies and 1,016 liquidations for 2021.

According to the latest count from STATEC and Luxembourg's Ministry of Justice, 220 companies were declared bankrupt and 169 were liquidated during the months of November and December 2021 combined.

Bankruptcies

A total of 1,181 companies declared bankruptcy in 2021, a figure which remained relatively stable compared to the previous year (1,179). This stability is confirmed when one compares the annual average of bankruptcies for the two years before the COVID-19 pandemic with the average for the years 2020 and 2021 (1,180, compared to 1,197 on average in 2018 and 2019).

However, at the level of individual industries, there was a significant drop in bankruptcies (almost 38%) in accommodation and catering (average for 2018-2019: 122 compared to the annual average for 2020-2021: 76).

The loss of jobs caused by the bankruptcies of 2021 (2,527 jobs) was up significantly compared to 2020 (up 52%), and even compared to previous years (up 16% and 21% respectively compared to 2019 and 2018 ). However, this was relatively limited in 2020 (1,663 jobs in 2020; 2,171 in 2018; 2,082 in 2018).

The comparison of the annual average of the two years before the crisis and that of the crisis years thus highlighted a slight drop in the loss of jobs (2,126 on average for 2018-2019 compared to 2,095 on average for 2020-2021).

The sectors most affected by job losses were non-financial service activities, construction and trade.

During the month of November 2021, the Luxembourg courts declared 95 bankruptcies (November 2020: 122; November 2019: 103 bankruptcies). In December 2021, the courts declared 125 bankruptcies (December 2020: 73; December 2019: 118 bankruptcies). The number of bankruptcies recorded in November and December 2021 remained comparable to that of the years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic.

The companies most affected by bankruptcies in November and December 2021 were, apart from holding companies and investment funds, those from the commerce industry (sixteen bankruptcies in November and seventeen in December).

Liquidations

Luxembourg courts ordered the liquidation of 83 companies in November 2021 (November 2020: 104 liquidations; November 2019: 65 liquidations; November 2018: 46 liquidations).

In December 2021, 86 companies were liquidated (December 2020: 92 liquidations; December 2019: 49 liquidations; December 2018: 50 liquidations).

The companies concerned by these liquidations were mainly holding companies and investment funds (47 liquidations in November and 56 in December) and those resulting from specialised, scientific and technical activities (nine liquidations in November and six in December).

In 2021, there was a total of 1,016 liquidations, an increase of more than 5% compared to 2020. According to STATEC, the increase in liquidations between 2019 (577 in total) and 2020 (964) was neither due to economic nor legislative reasons, but was linked to an increase in the number of liquidation cases handled per hearing by the courts.

These annual figures differ from those published by Chronicle.lu on Tuesday 25 January 2022 due to the fact that STATEC and the Luxembourg Business Register (LBR) use different calculations.