No. of failed listed firms totals 42 in April-February period+

TOKYO, March 9 Kyodo - The number of listed firms that went under in Japan during the first 11 months of the current fiscal year through February totaled 42, compared with the previous record high of 22 logged in the year ended in March 2003, a private
research agency said Monday.

According to Tokyo Shoko Research, the debts left by the failed firms listed on
stock exchanges came to 12.94 trillion yen during the April to February period.
An increasing number of listed firms have been failing since the start of this
year amid the deepening recession in Japan, with four failing in January and
seven going under in February, according to data released by the research
agency.
Of the listed companies that went bankrupt in the 11-month period, the firms in
the property and construction sectors accounted for nearly 70 percent.
Industry watchers project that the total sum of liabilities for the current
fiscal year ending this month will likely reach the fifth-highest level since
the end of World War II as the number of failures may increase toward the March
31 end of the fiscal year due to poor business performances and for lack of
operating funds.
''The credit crunch worsened as risk-averse banks are not even lending to
listed companies,'' an official of the research agency said.
During the 11-month period, a total of 14,609 business concerns went belly-up,
with an increasing number of small businesses failing due to sizable production
cuts by major manufacturers.
The research agency's figures cover bankrupt firms with debts of 10 million yen
or more.
For the month of February, the number of corporate bankruptcies rose 10.4
percent from a year earlier to 1,318, increasing for the ninth straight month,
according to the research agency.
The debts left by the firms more than tripled to 1.23 trillion yen, increasing
for six straight months, with the collapse of relatively large listed companies
lifting the overall sum.
The wave of bankruptcies is spreading from the construction and real estate
sectors to include the financial, wholesale and service industries, according
to the research agency's data.
The seven listed firms that went under in February include moneylender SFCG Co.
and condominium developer Japan General Estate Co., with the seven accounting
for 53.6 percent of the total debts in the month.
Of the 10 industrial sectors the research agency surveyed, bankruptcies in
February decreased in only two -- the financial and insurance, and retail
sectors.
Separately, Teikoku Databank, another private credit-research firm, said
corporate failures totaled 1,131 in February, up 21.0 percent from a year
earlier, accompanied by debts worth 1.20 trillion yen, up 141.5 percent.
The figures are smaller than the Tokyo Shoko Research data as the Teikoku
Databank report covers only failures filed in court and involving debts of 10
million yen or more.
==Kyodo
2009-03-09 21:40:35