Download the latest Industry Monitor below.
Credit Benchmark have released the end-month credit industry monitor for end-March, based on the final and complete set of the contributed credit risk estimates from ~40 global financial institutions.
Credit Benchmark covers 42,300 non-financial Corporate firms, 93% of which are not rated by a credit rating agency. This month, Corporates leant towards net credit improvement, with a modest positive ratio of 1.2 improvements to every deterioration. Financial firms (of which we cover 10,940, 82% of which are not publicly rated) showed credit neutrality, with a 1:1 improvements to deteriorations ratio.
Industry Level Credit Movement:
There were few instances of strong credit movement in either direction amongst the Industries. Utilities (covering 1,702 firms, 74% unrated) and Industrials (20,346 firms, 97% unrated) had the strongest performance, both with positive ratios of 1.4:1. The group showing the strongest bias towards credit deterioration was Telecommunications (483 firms, 77% unrated) with an improvements to deteriorations ratio of 1:1.8. Technology (1,579 firms, 85% unrated) and Basic Materials (2,997 firms, 91% unrated) followed some way behind, both with negative ratios of 1:1.2.
Sector Level Credit Movement:
At the sector level, Oil & Gas firms came out on top, with Canada Oil & Gas (174 firms, 78% unrated) showing a positive ratio of 3:1 improvements to deteriorations, and UK Oil & Gas (269 firms, 96% unrated) following behind with a ratio of 1.8:1. US Oil & Gas (465 firms, 67% unrated) was also positive but with a near neutral ratio of 1.1:1. Conversely, Canada Corporates (1,935 firms, 91% unrated) as a whole performed the worst, with a negative improvements to deteriorations ratio of 1:1.5. General Retailers (3,095 firms, 95% unrated) were neutral this month at 1:1.
In the update, you will find:
- Credit Consensus Distribution Changes: The net increase or decrease of entities in the given rating category since the last update.
- Credit Transition: Assesses the month-over-month observation-level net downgrades or upgrades, shown as a percentage of the total number of entities within each category.
- Ratio: Ratio of Improvements and Deteriorations in each category since last update, calculated as Improvements : Deteriorations.
- IG to HY Migration: The number of companies which have migrated from investment-grade to high-yield since the last update (known as Fallen Angels).
Credit Benchmark will continue to provide regular reports on these migration rates. If you have any questions about the contents of this update, please get in touch.
