The corporate court in Leuven has definitively pulled the plug from Taxi Polly BVBA in Walshoutem. The company was mainly active in taxi service and airport transport in the Landen, Gingelom, Hannut, Warreme and Tienen regions. Since February 12, 2016, Paul Van de Wyngaert was the manager who was succeeded by Dana Claes on June 1, 2019.
Messrs Marc Dewael and Karl Vanstippelen were appointed as curators. The court was of the opinion that the company has permanently discontinued its payments and no longer has the necessary credit to continue the activities.
In addition to the plaintiff, there are also other parties who are attempting to enforce substantial amounts. This is evident from the central file for attachment notices. Claims can be filed within thirty days from the date of the judgment in the Central Register of Solvency.
Bankruptcies are announced 4 years in advance
Bankruptcies are rarely a surprise. Alarm bells were already ringing four years before the actual demise.
“If a company goes bankrupt, other companies will also be hit. Sometimes they are dragged into the abyss. I find it incomprehensible that most companies do not protect themselves against this in time. Entrepreneurs fall into a pitfall that has been visible for four years. ” says Johan Geeroms, Head of Risk Underwriting Euler Hermes Netherlands.
The largest credit insurer in the world uses three indicators that 'reveal' upcoming bankruptcies at an early stage. Entrepreneurs tend to be blinded by success and great assignments. Even the best customers can go bankrupt.
The days of 'too big to fail' are long gone. If a company is doing well, it is no guarantee that it will remain that way for years. Any entrepreneur with quite large assignments should take the trouble to assess the financial background of his clients. That data is simply available.
Quack
According to Euler Hermes, bankruptcies of European SMEs follow regular patterns. Three phases can be distinguished: the strategy crisis, the profitability crisis and the solvency crisis. From the 2nd phase it is clearly visible that a company is in need.
Geeroms: “When a company has noticed that its customer is struggling, he can take measures. For example, by tightening the delivery and payment conditions or saying goodbye. ”
Warning: 3 indicators
What shows early on that a company is struggling?
Geeroms: “The turnover is generally looked at. When it falls, it raises questions. Euler Hermes does not consider this a robust indicator. We look at profitability (ROI, Return on Investment), capitalization (Equity Ratio) and interest coverage (Interest coverage Ratio). In other words: if the downturn sets in, the average return on invested capital decreases. Then you see that the company is loading more and more debt and finally the company is having more and more trouble to meet the obligations. ”
Dare to deviate
An additional reason for companies to do well Inform According to Geeroms, the financial background of their customers is the disruption that is going on in almost all sectors.
“We see that in the strategy crisis: companies that have flourished for a long time are in danger of losing their success factors. The philosopher Joseph Schumpeter calls this 'creative destruction' that is necessary to achieve innovation. That is faster and faster these days. It is a must to dare to deviate from flat-ridden paths. Nothing is more fun than the attitude of "we have always done it like this."
Above analysis van Euler Hermes is based on a database of more than 250.000 European SMEs. In total, we studied 1.653 bankruptcies using a data history of four years or more.
Also read: Taxi company Cibatax from Eindhoven again bankrupt
