New figures show over 500 jobs saved via examinership process

More than 500 jobs were saved through the examinership process last year, according to new figures.

Twelve examinerships took place in 2018, of which 9 were successful.

Examinership - under which struggling companies seek legal protection from creditors while a court-appointed examiner searches for new investors - allowed the State to save more than €4.3 million in averted claims for wage arrears, holiday pay, minimum notice and statutory redundancy payments, the business advisory group said.

Among the companies to seek an examiner last year were Open Hydro, Sammon Contracting, Bradley Pharmacy Group and Basta.

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According to its figures 15,284 jobs have been saved through the examinership process since 2010, generating savings to the State considered to be in excess of €132 million in respect of redundancy alone.

While the latest figures show a drop in the use of the examinership mechanism in the past year, Baker Tilly managing partner Neil Hughes said trends show there is a growing take up by owner manager companies and companies experiencing family shareholder disputes.

“The jobs saved through the examinership corporate recovery mechanism has to be welcomed and in a period of uncertainty with Brexit on the horizon it’s encouraging for companies to know that there is a support mechanism if they find themselves in financial difficulties,” said Mr Hughes.

He warned that while more finance is available to companies experiencing difficulties, a significant uptake in the examiner process is expected this year, due in part to costly contingency plans from companies dealing with Brexit, which will reduce operating margins.