Corporate bankruptcies fell 7.7 per cent in April from a year earlier to 1,514, down for the fourth consecutive month, reported Teikoku Databank Ltd..
Debts left by the failed firms fell 29.3 per cent to 903.06 billion yen, falling below the 1 trillion yen mark for the first time in four months, the private credit-research agency said.
But despite the declines, the number of bankruptcies was the ninth largest for April since World War II, and the amount of debts was the sixth largest for the month in the post-war period, the agency said.
"The latest data show the number of bankruptcies has been stabilised . . . but holding potential to increase," Teikoku Databank said in a report covering failures involving liabilities of 10 million yen or more.
The agency said some large-scale bankruptcies, including K.K. Reoma, an Osaka-based theme park operator with debts of 139.4 billion yen, helped increase the total amount of liabilities.
