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ALMOST HALF OF small businesses with property-related debt hangovers from boomtime investments are defaulting on their loans.
A new analysis by the Central Bank shows that many businesses’ survival is threatened, with 43% of businesses unable to keep up with loan repayments.
This compares to a default rate of 23% for businesses unencumbered by property debt.
The Central Bank said that the “performance of SME loans is of crucial importance from an economic recovery perspective”.
The worst performing sectors are the construction and hostel/restaurant trades, where over 60% of total loans to companies with property debt are in default.
Impairment
It said that high impairment rates on loans to smaller companies:
Suggest that there are a large number of employees potentially at risk as these companies may need to cut costs, downsize, or in some cases enter liquidation.
Data gathered by number-crunchers on Dame Street suggests that a minimum of 20% of Irish SMEs have an exposure to property debt.
That number could, in fact, be significantly higher when cross-bank borrowing is taken into account. The current research only focuses on property debts which businesses took on with their main bank.
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The report points out that cross-bank borrowing is anecdotally “most prevalent when firms were borrowing for riskier activity, such as property purchase”.
Risk
Small Firms Association director Patricia Callan said that it was vital that Celtic Tiger-era property debts were not allowed to sink otherwise viable businesses.
“Rather than forcing owner-managers into decisions that will close down businesses, if the business is viable it should be allowed to continue”.
From a public policy perspective, if the business itself is fundamentally viable, we need to find a means of keeping it going and keeping people in jobs. There shouldn’t be undue pressure on businesses to sell of property (to service debt)…that constrains the business going forward.
She said that forbearance and loan restructuring should be looked at to help businesses manage their debt loads.
“Measures such as the separation and parking of the property debt; conversion of bank debt to refundable preference shares; other equity injections through enhancing the Employment Investment Incentive Scheme, should all be examined to enable the continued financing of the viable business.”
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Maruane Felllini !!!
Robert Sheehan from Love/Hate would be fantastic.
cool hopefully unlike the recent project on Michael Jackson, they will not select a white man to play Phil. Love the guy, long overdue.. You Can Always Hear The King’s Call…..
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: why would you choose a black actor to play 2001 Michael Jackson who was white as white can be
@M: Because the whole point of acting is that you’re pretending to be somebody who you’re not.
@M: not white.
Find Smiley Bolger and ask him who is the Belfast Philo? (He is frontman art of a Lizzy tribute act that hail from Belfast I think?) They often plays Vibe for Philo gigs – has to be seen to be believed !
Have seen him with 2 guitarists Phil Edgar And Brian Grace – (don’t know if all 3 are in the same tribute act but hav seen them play together).
But my god – u’d swear it was Lizzy live & Dangerous in sound AND in appearance.
@Barry Ringwood: your thinking of Thin Az Lizzy, from Dundalk (not sure if they are still together) all you had to do was close your eyes an Philip was on stage,…so like them
@Tony Gordon: is it dundalk? 1 Guitarist is called Phil Edgar – and most of times ive seen them at vibe for Philo gigs – they had another guitarist called Brian Grace (whom I think is a dub and I don’t know if he’s ‘in’ the band properly or just jams with them…
But if that’s them… Yes. .. absolute class
@Tony Gordon: Bang on, it was as close as close could be to hearing Phil Lynott sing… Looked nothing like him at all, but they totally sounded like Thin Lizzy
@Tony Gordon: Thin Az Lizzy are back on the road again in the same lineup as before. Johnny Fox is the frontman. True enough he’s the best sounding Phil Lynott I’ve ever heard.
What about Chris Kamara from sky sports
Wasn’t Gary Dourdan billed to play him at one point?
@Neil Murray: he was indeed
@Neil Murray: Lenny Kravitz aswell at one stage. This idea has been knocking around for years, let’s hope they make a runner of it this time.
Morgan Freeman would be brilliant as Philo
@Stouts O Shea: nah too old I would have thought.
Many old guys going -Hmmmm??
Age: no (x3)
Race: no
Height: no
Hair /lack of: no (how did that happen)
mentality: yes
Have a Dublin cousin who’s the image of him. He talks just like him, plays bass good enough for far away shots, has the same swagger and by the end of a three week med holiday is almost the same colour.
Would a touch of dark makeup be wrong?
Is it more racially incorrect to change his skin-tone in order to be ethnically correct or is it more ethnically wrong to use a non-irish actor of similar skin-tone to play a proud Irish man?
Hmmm…
Hope they cast a white perosn just for all the hilarious outrage that would follow.
Get Brush Shiels on the panel to choose he knew Lynott the best
Sounds like another job for Aiden ‘Littlefinger’ Gillen, you can’t go wrong with Aiden Gillen.
@Ron North: or Brendan Gleeson? He’s a great actor, he could pull it off.
@O Swetenham: A strong second choice there.
His son Macdarragh (Dara) Lambe should be offered to play the part, he’s Phil’s double
They’re going to have to go southbound
Kwaku Fortune is the man for this.
Marty Morrissey
Apologies for couple of typos…. frontman ‘art’???
His Son Macdarragh (Dara) Lambe should be asked to play the part, he’s Phils double
@Aideen Murphy: agreed, he is the image of Phil. But I’d say he’s a bit too old. He’s almost 50 according to Wikipedia and Phil died at 36…
Wesley Snipes.
have your say