Press release: Corporate debt is increasing
The latest payment behavior statistics of companies collected by Krediidiinfo AS shows that in the second half of 2015 the sums of debts both to business partners and the state have increased. Industry demonstrated the largest tax arrears of all.
Sums of debts of companies before other companies have increased by 23%; the total amount of such arrears was ca. 54 million euros. The average amount of debt was 997 euros. Debt sums have most of all increased in accommodation and catering, construction and real estate sectors – the arrears in these sectors form 70% of all the debt that companies have before each other.
The sum of tax arrears of companies (i.e. debts to the state) have increased by 1.2% and amounted to ca. 35 million euros. The average amount of tax debt was 2,551 euros. Mining and processing industry have the most tax arrears of all – the amount of debts in it forms one fourth of all tax arrears.
See comments of entrepreneurs working in the industrial sector in Krediidiinfo blog
During the past year the number of companies with tax arrears has increased by ca. 9%. The total number of active companies with debts before the state was 4,283, most of them in accommodation and catering (10.5%) and construction (10.1%) sectors. The number of debtors has significantly increased in mining and processing industries, where the share of companies in debt reached 9.4%.
The number of companies with debts to other businesses continues to decrease moderately (-8.4%). This trend affects all areas of business, except for agriculture. 3.3% (the total of 2,564) active companies have debts to other businesses – most of them from accommodation and catering (6.5%) and construction (6.1%) sectors.
As of January 2016 the share of companies with high level of risk has increased to 12.8%. It demonstrates that the crediting policy of Estonian companies remains relatively conservative. At the same time out of other sectors a higher (almost twice as high) risk level (24.1%) is attributed to the accommodation and catering, where every fourth company already faces significant debt risk.
The statistics of payment behavior of companies is based on information from the Payment Default Register of Krediidiinfo and the Tax and Customs Board. The sampling includes 77,214 active Estonian companies. The goal of payment behavior statistics of Krediidiinfo AS is to monitor corporate credit rating methods and (where necessary) regulate it in order to provide decision-makers with reliable crediting-related information.
Krediidiinfo AS is an international company specializing in credit information gathering, processing and intermediation, while focusing on decreasing financial risks of Estonian companies.
The complete study is available here: http://www.krediidiinfo.ee/files/mhrstatistika_2015_teisel_pa.pdf
Additional information:
Alar Jäger, CEO of Krediidiinfo AS
Phone: 665 9611
Email: alar.jager@krediidiinfo.ee