The number of corporate bankruptcies rose 4.4 percent in September from a year earlier to 1,568, up for the first time in three months, a credit research agency said Monday.
The figure was the largest since 1,608 companies went bust in September 1980 and the fourth largest for any September in the postwar period, Teikoku Databank Ltd. said.
The figure brought the number of bankruptcies in the April-September period to 9,665, up 2 percent from the same period last year and the third worst on record for a fiscal first half, the agency said.