In recent months, Ken Tryell and his team began working on an exercise to determine what economic metric is best aligned with Irish corporate insolvencies.  Tyrell, a restructuring and insolvency specialist with the accountancy firm PwC, has maintained a running tracker of corporate insolvencies in recent years, producing quarterly reports on how many companies are going out of business and what sectors of the economy are struggling most. Tyrell’s team compared that data against a range of economic metrics, from GDP growth to consumer spending. However, the metric that best correlated with the rate of corporate failures was the unemployment…

Voluntary administrators have been appointed to Body Shop NZ — with stores remaining open as stock is cleared.

The Body Shop NZ has 16 stores across New Zealand with approximately 70 permanent employees and an online business. It sells skincare, make-up haircare and body products.

Customers were told of the closure in an email on Wednesday afternoon.

“We regret to inform you that after much consideration, our New Zealand business has entered voluntary administration and will be closing its doors. We want to express our sincere gratitude for your loyal support throughout the years,” the email read.

A storewide discount of 40% would be applied to the remaining stock, according to the email, with customers invited to take advantage of the…

Data breaches and ransomware attacks in the US are increasing companies’ risk of financial losses, in many cases dragging them into bankruptcy or putting them out of business altogether.

Data breaches cost companies across the world on average about $4.9 million, and nearly double that amount in the US, according to a 2024 study by IBM. Costs can differ based on a number of factors, including regulatory compliance requirements, sensitivity or complexity of the data involved, and subsequent litigation.

The International Monetary Fund warned last year that cyberattacks have more than doubled since the onset of the pandemic, increasing the risk of “extreme losses” for companies that could cause funding problems “and even jeopardize…

Company collapses in England and Wales fell last year, according to new official figures, but compulsory liquidations soared to a 10-year high and experts warned of more uncertainty for firms in the coming months.

Some 23,872 companies went out of business in 2024, the Insolvency Service said, down 5% on the previous year.

Despite the drop year on year, the number of insolvencies was far higher than most of the last decade, and remains at levels last seen during the 2008 financial crisis.

The figures also revealed that compulsory liquidations – where courts order firms to stop trading because they cannot pay their debts – jumped 14% to 3,230 in 2024 after a year-end surge.

The number of monthly compulsory liquidations soared by…

(TNND) — More Americans sought help with their mounting debt last year, according to one of the country’s largest nonprofit credit counseling agencies.

Money Management International saw a 35% increase in new clients seeking financial counseling, according to just-released 2024 figures.

And the growing need for financial counseling was driven by young adults.

MMI saw 48% annual growth in clients in their 20s.

Millennials accounted for 43% of all clients seeking counseling, making them the largest generational group. They were followed by Gen X at 30%.

MMI financial educator Thomas Nitzsche said they saw “a really significant jump” in new clients last year, regardless of age.

It’s not just that more people reached out for help, but…

Prominent attorney Tom Goldstein, co-founder of the website SCOTUSblog, was indicted Thursday on charges of fraud involving tens of millions of dollars in poker debt and creating phony jobs at his law firm to pay for travel and other expenses for several women.

Goldstein, as the sole owner of the firm Goldstein & Russell PC, allegedly used the firm’s money to cover personal expenses—including millions in gambling debts—and misrepresented the nature of the expenditures, according to the indictment filed in the US District Court for the District of Maryland.

Prosecutors say he also failed to report or mischaracterized millions of dollars in gambling income to the IRS. He is also accused of using sham employment arrangements to conceal…

Evanston stands near the top of a list of peer communities in the amount of outstanding debt the city is carrying.

Nonetheless, even with the city increasing its debt payments between 2013 and 2023, the city isn’t keeping pace with an inflation index — nor with its growing capital needs, staff told a city committee last week.

As a result, “less work is being done now than was the case 10 years ago,” Budget Manager Clayton Black told members of the city’s Finance and Budget Committee at their Jan. 14 meeting.

…

Beauty brand The Body Shop’s New Zealand business has appointed voluntary administrators.

It comes after its UK parent company was placed into administration in February last year, with its international assets largely sold – but the sale excluded the New Zealand business.

Administrators Daniel Stoneman and Neale Jackson of Calibre Partners said a buyer had not been found for the New Zealand business, leading to the appointment of administrators.

“We are working closely with the management team to develop a strategy to sell all stock and begin to wind down the business,” they said.

The Body Shop New Zealand has 16 stores with about 70 permanent staff.

It pulled out of Dunedin last year. A Golden Centre Mall spokeswoman confirmed…

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has begun sending more than $5 million in refunds to consumers who were harmed by a deceptive credit card debt relief scheme.

The funds in this distribution came from ACRO Services, which operated under multiple names and ran the scheme, and BlueSnap, which provided payment processing services and profited from the scheme, the FTC said in a Tuesday (Jan. 21) press release.

The FTC’s complaint against ACRO Services charged that it ran a deceptive telemarketing operation that made phony debt relief promises to consumers, charged consumers unlawful upfront enrollment fees, and charged monthly fees for “credit monitoring” services, according to the release.

ACRO Services operated under names…