New figures show that over five companies a day went out of business in February. InsolvencyJournal.ie says that 301 companies went bust in the first two months of 2012, compared to 249 the same time last year.
166 firms went out of business in February, up 23% on the January figures.
Leinster continues to be the worst affected area, accounting for 61% of the overall total. Munster saw an increase and accounted for 25% of the total. Ulster was the least affected region.
Breaking down the sectors, construction remained the most severely affected, with 42 corporate insolvencies in February, a rise of 20% on January. February also saw a big rise in the number of insolvencies in the wholesale sector, with companies going bust up from one to eight.
Kavanaghfennell, who compiles the figures, said a trend seems to be developing where firms are inviting banks to appoint receivers. In doing so, they allow the value of their business to be preserved. Some notable receiverships last month included Awear, Earls Holdings and Fastnet Line Shipping.
''The large number of companies opting to voluntarily liquidate themselves is an indication of how difficult some SMEs are finding the current trading environment,'' commented Ken Fennel, a partner with Kavanaghfennell.
He said there is a continuing slow but steady increase in the number of companies seeking court protection by utilising the examinership process and said he expects the number of examinerships to rise during the year.
