Hospitality sector remains resilient as insolvency risk levels fall

Hospitality sector remains resilient as insolvency risk levels fall

The hospitality sector in Northern Ireland has shown signs of “resilience” over the last six months, according to R3’s Stephen Cave.

Latest figures from restructuring trade body R3 revealed that hotels, pubs and restaurants in Northern Ireland have either seen a slight decrease or a steady hold of their levels of insolvency risk since the start of 2019.

Stephen Cave commented: “Hospitality and tourism businesses are facing some headwinds, however with the recent rises in the minimum wage, and the increase in pension auto-enrolment payments adding to many companies’ staff costs.”

The restaurant sector experienced a small decline in their risk levels with a drop from 35.3% in January to 35.1% in June. Risk levels for hotel companies also fell during the first half of the year, from 24.4% in January to 24.3% in June.

However, overall the pub sector experienced the biggest change in regards to risk of insolvency over the first six months of 2019, with levels rising from 36% to 36.6%.

The tourism sector also saw a small rise in the percentage of businesses deemed to be at higher than usual risk over the same time period, from 30.6% in January to 30.9% in June.

Nevertheless, research showed that Northern Ireland had the second-lowest percentage of companies at higher than normal risk of insolvency anywhere in the UK, at 36.8% across all sectors.