The Deloitte South Africa Restructuring Industry Survey 2021 offers insight into the health of the local restructuring industry, including the impact of Covid-19
Leading professional services firm Deloitte has published the results of its recent survey into the current state of the formal and informal South African restructuring industry.
This latest edition of the survey serves to delve deeper into the progress made by the industry since business rescue legislation was first introduced in South Africa a decade ago, as well as to gain a greater measure of understanding regarding the impact the COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent lockdown trading restrictions, have had on various sectors.
The survey was based on an online survey and one-on-one interviews conducted with restructuring professionals from a broad mix of industry organisations and associations. It was carried out between 12 January 2021 and 8 February 2021.
According to survey respondents, sectors hardest hit by the pandemic and lockdown restrictions are the hotel and leisure, retail, real estate, and construction sectors. Telco, media and technology, agriculture, financials services, and resources were thought to be the least affected by COVID-19. Survey participants did offer a small glimmer of hope, citing the growth of online businesses.
The survey identified a number of trends that respondents believe will have a major role in shaping the future of the industry. These include the growing importance of the role of Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) and the advances in technology that are expected to have a transformational impact on the restructuring process in the coming years, such as customer relationship management tools, big data, cloud, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
Additional key findings include that 88% of survey participants expect increased activity levels in the restructuring industry over the next 12 months, whilst increased demand for distressed funding is also expected to emerge over the same period.
The full Deloitte South Africa Restructuring Industry Survey 2021 can be accessed here.
Deloitte Africa Restructuring Services helps its clients navigate volatile and uncertain situations. When a client is facing financial problems, whether it concerns cash flow shortfall, falling sales or excessive debt, the Restructuring Services team delivers solutions that are designed to build a platform for swift recovery and sustained success.