Historically, many companies go under. In January, 1,110 companies went bankrupt, which is an increase of 57 percent since January last year.
It appears from the authority Growth analysis figures presented on Monday.
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95 percent more affected
In addition, the bankruptcies cover 95 percent more employees than in January last year.
The bankruptcies already took off in the fall of 2022, the authority writes, and are a contributing factor to the growing unemployment in Sweden.
The rising prices, the weak Swedish krona and the high interest rates all have a negative effect on the Swedish economy and Swedish business.
The 90s are back
Not since the crisis years of the nineties have so many bankruptcies been reported in one and the same month of January. The last time this many bankruptcies occurred in January was 1997.
This means that we are currently going through a worse time than during both the financial crisis in 2008 and during the pandemic.
Many bankruptcies in Stockholm
Almost every other company that went bankrupt was registered in Stockholm, the authority writes. Scania and Western Sweden are also overrepresented, which is logical because most companies in the country are concentrated in the three regions.
“Significant increases also took place in Uppsala County and Västmanland County,” writes Tillväxtanalys.
Restaurants and bars hit hard
The bankruptcies are not locked to a particular industry.
“In January, bankruptcies increased in all industries,” writes the authority.
The biggest increase compared to last year was in restaurants, bars and catering operations. 103 such companies went bankrupt. This means that almost every tenth company that closed was a restaurant company.
That can be compared to 44 that went bankrupt last year – an increase of over 100 percent.
But the manufacturing industry was also hit hard. In the manufacturing industry, 53 companies went bankrupt, compared to 29 in January of the previous year.
The construction industry and property services in crisis
The construction industry and the real estate industry were the branches that lost the most companies in absolute terms. Just over every fifth company, 227 bankruptcies, affected the construction industry. In addition, 209 companies in financial, real estate and business services suffered bankruptcy – almost a fifth of all bankruptcies there as well.
“This corresponds to increases of 62 percent and 51 percent, respectively, compared to January 2023,” the authority writes on its website.
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