There has not been a spike in the number receiverships despite the financial difficulties facing industries unable to open under the current lockdown settings.
Photo: Mike Clegg/123RF
The Restructuring Insolvency & Turnaround Association of New Zealand (RITANZ) said there had not been an increase in the number of businesses forced to shut down, primarily because of the government support they were continuing to receive.
"I'm not really surprised because formal appointments really only happen after businesses have really explored all other options and that's sort of a last resort before going into a formal appointment, so we certainly haven't seen an uptick at this stage, but certainly feel the frustration that some businesses are going through," RITANZ chair John Fisk said.
He said Inland Revenue had been taking a soft position on companies that had been struggling through the lockdown, although the reprieve was not something that would last over the long term.
However, Fisk said the situation was different when it came to cash-strapped businesses caught out by disruptions to global supply chains and rising costs.
"A lot of the problems that are being faced at the moment by companies are working capital pressure, because of supply chain issues, because of resource constraints issues and costs increases.
So, the sort of nature of the work has changed from formal appointments to restructuring and helping businesses through cash flow challenges."
He said the issues were ongoing and unlikely to be resolved quickly where supply chain issues were concerned.
"Those sort of things aren't going to be fixed overnight, unfortunately. They're going to be challenges that businesses will have to deal with over the next two or three years."