The health of some of Australia’s top businesses declined during the financial crisis, according to the Australian Corporate Health Index.
The index, conducted by 333 Consulting, found that of the 200 ASX-listed companies excluding those from the financial services sector surveyed, more than 70 percent went backwards during the financial crisis. A further 49 percent were either “at risk” or “unhealthy”, up from 43 percent a year ago.
333 Consulting managing director Martyn Strickland said that the impact of the downturn for these companies has been much deeper than expected.
“What we are seeing is across the board, an increase in risk. Those companies that have gone backwards now have a greater risk of failure, and we have almost a third of Australian companies that are now at risk of failure, which is an increase of about four percentage points on last year,” he said.
Strickland added that companies should prepare for the recovery by getting their capital structure under control and by fixing their core business.
