The number of businesses that have gone bankrupt in Germany in the first three months of 2025 is as high as it has been at any point in the past eleven years. But which companies are being hit the hardest? And how likely is it that the situation will calm down soon?
“The storm of bankruptcies continues.” That is how the news agency Reuters quoted Volker Treier, chief analyst at the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), last Friday: “Small and medium-sized enterprises in particular are facing problems.”
A DIHK survey showed that nearly one in three companies with fewer than 20 employees fears a deterioration in its financial situation. These businesses account for about 85% of all companies in…