'38,000 FIRMS AT RISK OF FAILURE' - A study of 100,000 companies published today by business information agency Vision-net.ie has found that more than 38,000 are 'high-risk' and showing signs consistent with business failure.
Vision-net.ie also found that more than €1 billion of unpaid debt has been left behind so far this year by companies which have gone into liquidation.
Vision-net's managing director Christine Cullen said the report looked at indicators such as cash flow and debt levels to assess whether companies were at risk.
She said construction, finance and retail accounted for 30-35% of firms at risk, but there was likely to be a shift in the coming months away from construction and towards the hospitality and restaurant sector.
Ms Cullen said the average age of companies at risk was a little under ten years. She said there were likely to be 1,800 liquidations this year, adding that 30% of liquidations usually happened in the last three months of the year.
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NEWS AND CURRENCIES - German chip maker Infineon has agreed to sell its wireless business to Intel for $1.4 billion, enabling the US giant to boost its presence in the smartphone market.
On the currency markets, the euro is trading at $1.2743 and 81.94p sterling.
