Japan’s Business failures in the first half of FY2024
(Released by TEIKOKU DATABANK, LTD.)
Bankruptcies up for 6 consecutive terms
All industries and regions saw more bankruptcies than the same period of the previous year for the second consecutive year
| Bankruptcies |
4,990 |
| Year-on-Year basis |
+18.6％ |
| Apr to Sep 2023 |
4,208 |
| Liabilities |
1,329,492 million yen |
| Year-on-Year basis |
▲16.2％ |
| Apr to Sep 2023 |
1,586,836 million yen |
Highlight and Outstanding Feature
- ■The number of bankruptcies in the first half of fiscal 2024 came to 4,990 (up 18.6% from 4,208 in the same period last year), the highest number for a first half of the year since fiscal 2014, approaching 5,000. On a half-year basis, this was the sixth consecutive half-year increase.
- ■Total liabilities were 1,329,492 million yen (down 16.2% from 1,586,836 million yen in the same period last year), exceeding 1 trillion yen for the third consecutive year in the first half of the year. However, due in part to a decrease in the number of large-scale bankruptcies of companies with liabilities of over 10,000 million yen from 10 to three, total liabilities fell below the same period of last year for the second consecutive year in the first half of the year.
- ■By industry, the number of bankruptcies increased year-on-year in all industries for the second consecutive year. The service industry (to 1,312 bankruptcies from 1,022 in the same period last year, an increase of 28.4%) posted the highest figure since 2000. In the retail industry (to 1,048 from 885 in the previous year, up 18.4%), the number of bankruptcies was highest for restaurants (to 439 from 381), the highest since 2000. Bankruptcies in the food-related sector were prominent due to rising prices of procuring items and rising commodity prices.
- ■Looking at the figures by region, all regions exceeded the same period of last year for the second consecutive year, and all regions recorded the highest figures for the first half of the year in the past 10 years. The region with the most bankruptcies was Kanto (to 1,759 from 1,552 in the same period last year, up 13.3%). Next was the Kinki region (to 1,259 from 1,033, up 21.9%), which exceeded 1,200 cases for the first time in 11 years.
- ■There were 360 cases of “zero-zero (coronavirus) post-loan bankruptcies,” the highest number ever recorded in the first half of the year.
- ■There were 163 bankruptcies due to labor shortages, exceeding 150 for the first time in the first half of the year.
- ■There were 239 cases of “bankruptcies due to difficulties in finding a successor,” a decrease from the same period last year but remaining at a high level.
- ■There were 472 bankruptcies due to high prices, exceeding the 470 cases in the half year, a significant increase over the previous record.
Bankruptcy Information TOP