{"id":804989,"date":"2024-12-27T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-27T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=804989"},"modified":"2024-12-27T09:10:50","modified_gmt":"2024-12-27T07:10:50","slug":"over-1400-businesses-in-south-africa-shut-their-doors-these-were-the-hardest-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/804989\/over-1400-businesses-in-south-africa-shut-their-doors-these-were-the-hardest-hit\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 1,400 businesses in South Africa shut their doors in 2024 – these were the hardest-hit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1,461 businesses have shut their doors this year so far, with the final figures for the whole of 2024 coming in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is according to the data tracked by Stats SA on voluntary and compulsory liquidations through to November 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the group, 128 businesses were liquidated in November 2024, down from 196 in October. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that the numbers are down year-on-year, with 144 liquidations recorded in November 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is also reflected in the year-to-date data, where the 1,461 liquidations between January and November 2024 are lower than the 1,520 in the same period in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the historical trend, most of the liquidations in November hit the financing, insurance, real estate, and business services sectors the hardest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is followed by trade, catering and accommodation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same pattern follows for the year-to-date data, with these sectors accounting for about half of all the liquidations in 2024 so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only other sector to record a large number of liquidations YTD is community, social, and personal services.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Because the data tracks a month behind, the full-year data for 2024 will be available in January, though the current trend shows that liquidations were likely slightly lower than in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2024 has played host to some notable liquidations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ellies<\/a>, once a prominent Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) company, entered liquidation after its business rescue process failed. The company was unable to benefit from the rise of solar energy in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sticking with solar, Hohm Energy went into voluntary liquidation due to cash flow issues and mounting debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hohm Energy offered financing options for rooftop solar installations through partnerships with banks like Investec and Nedbank, but it struggled amidst a drop in demand following improvements in the country\u2019s load shedding situation, with now over 200 days of no rolling blackouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South African sneaker brand Drip Footwear is also shutting down, with it struggling to pay an R20 million advertising bill, which led to a court-ordered liquidation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another footwear retailer Frame Leisure Trading, the operator of The Cross Trainer, also entered liquidation proceedings after an unsuccessful business rescue attempt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group struggling with cash flow issues following the COVID-19 pandemic, July 2021 unrest and the poor economic environment in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, other companies, such as West Pack Lifestyle and Autozone, have escaped business rescue after being bought during their business rescue proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of liquidation proceedings, South Africa also bade farewell to a number of prominent international operations in 2024, with many groups exiting the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes the likes of Tupperware, Zando, BNP Paribas, HBC and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Balancing the scales, the country is also seeing a wave of new entrants opening up shop in the country, including Pret a Manager and JD Sports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Read: International retailer coming to South Africa next month \u2013 with stores in the UK, Canada, USA, and more<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over 1,400 businesses have been liquidated in South Africa in 2024 so far, with more expected in the full-year data. But there is some good news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":788719,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-804989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804989"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":804996,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804989\/revisions\/804996"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}