Business failures - France 2023Apr

Published on 10 May 2023

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At the end of April, the number of corporate bankruptcies is still increasing but remained below its average pre-pandemic level
  • The catch-up in the number of corporate bankruptcies initiated in fall 2021 continues. Over one year (between May 2022 and April 2023), it reaches 46,183 against 31,400 a year earlier, but 51,145 at the end of 2019 (see Figure 1, as well as Tables A and B).


  • This upward trend affects the various sectors of the economy (see Figure 2). It is more pronounced for SMEs (excluding microenterprises and indeterminate sizes).


    •
  • The number of annual corporate bankruptcies nevertheless remains significantly lower than the average level recorded over the 2010-2019 period, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (59,342 corporate bankruptcies, see Figure 1). Indeed, the number of corporate bankruptcies had been particularly low since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, due to the adoption of regulations temporarily granting additional time to both assess and report insolvency, and, later, cash support measures to avoid the occurrence of insolvency.
To find out more: data on business start-ups are reported by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE): Business births on the INSEE's website
A - Corporate bankruptcies by sector
Bankruptcies in number of legal units, year on year change (%)
Aggregate over previous 12 months (a) (raw data)
2019 Mar. 23 Mar. 23/Mar. 22 Mar. 23/2019 Apr. 22 Apr. 23 prov. Apr. 23/Apr. 22 Apr. 23/2019
Business sector
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (AZ) 1,414 1,207 10.7% -14.6% 1,098 1,166 6.2% -17.5%
Industry (BE) 3,435 3,424 69.6% -0.3% 2,150 3,439 60.0% 0.1%
Construction (FZ) 11,089 9,262 43.8% -16.5% 6,592 9,404 42.7% -15.2%
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) 11,137 10,122 54.0% -9.1% 6,841 10,273 50.2% -7.8%
Transportation and storage (H) 2,097 1,872 45.0% -10.7% 1,385 1,878 35.6% -10.4%
Accommodation and food service activities (I) 6,840 6,178 91.4% -9.7% 3,437 6,297 83.2% -7.9%
Information and communication (JZ) 1,277 1,336 44.4% 4.6% 940 1,395 48.4% 9.2%
Financial and insurance activities (KZ) 1,086 1,075 53.1% -1.0% 732 1,072 46.4% -1.3%
Real estate activities (LZ) 1,631 1,469 18.9% -9.9% 1,226 1,485 21.1% -9.0%
Advisory & Business support activities (MN) 5,813 5,245 36.7% -9.8% 3,967 5,296 33.5% -8.9%
Education, human health and social work services, Arts, entertainment and recreation, Other service activities (P to S) 5,140 4,385 53.6% -14.7% 2,966 4,399 48.3% -14.4%
All firms (b) 51,145 45,658 50.9% -10.7% 31,400 46,183 47.1% -9.7%
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early May 2023: final for March, provisional for April.
Calculation : Banque de France - Companies Directorate - Companies Observatory
a Aggregate number of corporate bankruptcies over the previous 12 months compared to the same aggregate one year before and in 2019 (January to December 2019).
b The line « All firms » includes legal units whose business sector is not known
B - Corporate bankruptcies by firm size
Bankruptcies in number of legal units, year on year change (%)
Aggregate over previous 12 months (a) (raw data)
2019 Mar. 23 Mar. 23/Mar. 22 Mar. 23/2019 Apr. 22 Apr. 23 prov. Apr. 23/Apr. 22 Apr. 23/2019
Size
SME, among them 51,119 45,619 50.9% -10.8% 31,381 46,140 47.0% -9.7%
Micro-enterprises and unknown firm's size 48,747 42,218 48.4% -13.4% 29,485 42,652 44.7% -12.5%
Very small firms 1,478 2,101 87.1% 42.2% 1,194 2,153 80.3% 45.7%
Small firms 650 979 92.7% 50.6% 527 1,007 91.1% 54.9%
Medium-size firms 244 321 105.8% 31.6% 175 328 87.4% 34.4%
ISE - Large Firms 26 39 77.3% 50.0% 19 43 126.3% 65.4%
All firms 51,145 45,658 50.9% -10.7% 31,400 46,183 47.1% -9.7%
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early May 2023: final for March, provisional for April.
Calculation : Banque de France - Companies Directorate - Companies Observatory.
a Aggregate number of corporate bankruptcies over the previous 12 months compared to the same aggregate one year before and in 2019 (January to December 2019).
C - Changes in corporate bankruptcies
1 - Number of bankruptcies
Cumulated over previous 12 months
From Dec. 1991 to March 2023 (+ April 2023 provisional)
Note: The dotted green curve represents the average value of the number of corporate bankruptcies over twelve months observed monthly between December 1991 and December 2019. The orange curve represents this average level over the period January 2010 - December 2019, which is a high for the observation period.
2 - Number of bankruptcies by sector
Cumulated over previous 12 months
From Dec. 2015 to March 2023 (+ April 2023 provisional)




3 - Monthly number of bankruptcies
From Jan. 2019 to March 2023 (+ April 2023 provisional)
4 - Loan amounts of bankrupt non-financial firms over loan amount of all firms - by firm size
Cumulated over previous 12 months
From Dec. 2006 to March 2023 (+ April 2023 provisional)
(in %)
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early May 2023 final for March, provisional for April.
More information on: methodology, time series, calendar
All the series published by the Banque de France are available at the following address Webstat Banque de France
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Corporate bankruptcies
STAT INFO - April 2023
Contact: 1489-contenuwebstat-ut@banque-france.fr
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Updated on 9 May 2023