The construction industry was the biggest risk to small businesses
CreditorWatch reviewed industry data across that last 12 months. The statistics were loud and clear across each state that construction was performing poorly. Looking at court actions, New South Wales was the riskiest in Construction by 33%.
New South Wales had the highest court actions in the construction industry in May 2019 and South Australia had the highest amount in April 2019. The rest of the states saw the worst activity for construction throughout the first half of the financial year.
The highest number of insolvencies in the construction industry peaked in June 2019, a 74% increase from last year. The most defaults were registered in May 2018.
Comparing Quarter 2 2018 with Quarter 2 2019 revealed that court actions were up in South Australia by 68% and New South Wales by 30%. Insolvencies were up by 64% and payment defaults increased by 66%.
Of the top 5 worst performing industries, the other four were:
- Professional, Scientific and technical Services 11%
- Retail Trade 11%
- Manufacturing 8%
- Transport, Postal and Warehousing 7%
The industry with the highest amount of ASIC notices generated was Professional, Scientific and Technical Services at 20% and Construction came second at 16%.
Construction had the most defaults with manufacturing the second highest.
The top 5 Riskiest Industries by Average Days Overdue are:
The fastest paying industries included Information Media and Telecommunications; Mining and Education and Training.
CreditorWatch recently released the Small Business Risk Review for Quarter 2, 2019. One of the key insights was that New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia have had an increase in court actions. This is worth noting in relation to the concerning data around Construction and how it is performing poorly in those states.
With these insights in mind, it is vital to perform thorough due diligence and keep up with credit terms. CreditorWatch can assist by monitoring your customers of interest 24/7 and sending alerts as soon as adverse actions occur. It also helps to have a plan in place should you begin to notice slower payments and adverse changes with a debtor. Data and insights provided by CreditorWatch can help empower business owners to stay in control and on top of bad debt.
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More articles like this: Small Business Risk Review Quarter 2 2019 – What’s going on with NSW, VIC and SA?
