Decrease in number of bankruptcies

In the first quarter of 2010, the number of bankruptcies was 1 211. This is a fall of 15 percent compared with the same period last year.

In almost all counties the number of bankruptcies went down. Exceptions are the counties of Nordland, Aust-Agder, Troms and Finnmark. The largest decrease in percentage terms was in the counties of Sør-Trøndelag and Vest-Agder, with a 44 percent decline. With 43 less bankruptcies, Sør-Trøndelag is also the county with the highest fall in absolute figures.

Seven out of 19 bankruptcies, a total of 865, were bankruptcies related to enterprises (excl. sole proprietorships). Compared with the first quarter last year, this number went down by 21 percent.

One out of three bankruptcies related to enterprises were in the wholesale and retail trade.

The remaining 346 bankruptcies were related to sole proprietorships and personal bankruptcies. In this group, there was an increase of 6.5 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2009. More than one third of the sole proprietorships that went bankrupt in the first three months of this year were in construction.

Fewer bankruptcies of Norwegian-registered foreign companies

Nine percent of all bankruptcies in the first quarter this year were Norwegian-registered foreign companies. The number of bankruptcies with this legal form went down by 15 percent compared with the same period last year.

Source: Statistics Norway