Retail segment in weak financial condition in H1 2010

2010-08-23

Since the beginning of 2010 as many as 761 Polish firms have declared insolvency or filed for liquidation, according to data presented by Dun & Bradstreet. By the end of 2010, the number of companies filing for bankruptcy may total to 2,000. Most of the companies declaring insolvency are retail firms.

Among the segments facing the most serious financial problems is the food sector. In the second quarter of 2010, 64% of food companies were in a weak financial condition, which is 5 p.p. more than in the first three months of 2010. By the end of June 2010, 15,911 firms were in arrears with payments to their contractors, which were around 3,000 more companies than in the analogous period of 2009. At present, in the food segment the total amount of late invoices equals to PLN 1bn (€250m) and the payment terms have been extended to 90 days, instead of 30 days on average as it was in 2009.

Also, the cosmetics companies are in bad financial condition. In the first half of 2010, around 10,081 firms from the cosmetics segment have had overdue outstanding payments, amounting to PLN 564m (€141m), a figure higher by PLN 60m (€15m) when compared to the same period of 2009.

Also, the outstanding payments of the companies from the electronic appliances segment have gone up from PLN 13.4m (€3.3m) in H1 2009 to PLN 26.2m (€6.5m) in H1 2010.