COVID-19 claims more Geelong businesses

Geelong retailers are predicting plenty more business casualties to come when debt relief measures are wound back in just a few days, amid revelations more than 120 became insolvent in the first nine months on 2020.

More than 120 Greater Geelong, Surf Coast and Bellarine businesses have gone bust amid the coronavirus pandemic, with fears of more casualties in the new year.

Ryrie Street trader Hayden Spurling said 2020 had been the most challenging year in his retail career spanning more than five decades.

Temporary debt relief measures will be wound back on January 1 and the JobKeeper supplement ends in March, sparking fears many struggling businesses may not survive beyond that.

“At the end JobKeeper there will certainly be more casualties and the economy is really going to be in a state of flux,” Mr Spurling said.

“It’s been a tough year for many businesses and the market is the toughest I’ve ever seen it.”

New Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA) regional personal insolvency statistics reveal 104 businesses in Greater Geelong and 24 businesses along the Surf Coast and Bellarine faced personal insolvency from the start of 2020 to the September quarter

Of those businesses, 11 filed for bankruptcy during the June quarter.

According to the data, 30 people entered a new personal insolvency in the Geelong, Surf Coast and Bellarine Peninsula during the September – 41 per cent fewer than during the same quarter in 2019.

In this year’s September quarter, seven people who entered a new personal insolvency in Geelong were in business.

This is a rise from five during the March quarter, but a fall from 15 compared to the same time last year.

Council of Small Business Organisations Australia chief executive Peter Strong said businesses were bracing for the fallout once the JobKeeper scheme finishes.

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He said there was a divide between some regional and suburban businesses that fared OK this year compared to many CBD businesses that were in “dire straits”.

Rodger Reidy director and insolvency specialist David Holton said while there had been an up to 80 per cent decline in insolvency recently, experts were expecting changes to JobKeeper to lead to a gradual increase in insolvencies between now and April.

“We anticipate that 2021 will have an influx of insolvencies for a number of reasons, being catching up on those that should have otherwise occurred in 2020 but didn’t due to the insolvency moratoriums and job keeper, those adversely affected by job keeper and the ripple affect the market creates,” Mr Holton said.

But Mr Spurling said he believed Geelong businesses would eventually come out of this challenging period stronger and more resilient than before.

Originally published as COVID-19 claims more Geelong businesses