Business failures - France 2023Jun

Published on the 6th of July 2023

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At the end of June, the number of corporate bankruptcies rose again 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 July 2022 and June 2023), it reaches 48,673 against 33,570 a year earlier and 59,342 on average pre-pandemic (see Figure 1, as well as Tables A and B).


  • This catch-up trend affects all sectors of the economy (see Figure 2) and companies of all sizes, but to a lesser extent for microenterprises and indeterminate size (see Table B).


    •
  • The number of annual corporate bankruptcies remains significantly lower than the average level recorded over the 2010-2019 period, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. 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 May 23 May 23/May 22 May 23/2019 June 22 June 23 prov. June 23/June 22 June 23/2019
Business sector
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (AZ) 1,414 1,225 9.3% -13.4% 1,099 1,180 7.4% -16.5%
Industry (BE) 3,436 3,513 58.9% 2.2% 2,313 3,590 55.2% 4.5%
Construction (FZ) 11,089 9,748 44.4% -12.1% 6,978 9,826 40.8% -11.4%
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) 11,137 10,666 49.9% -4.2% 7,353 10,747 46.2% -3.5%
Transportation and storage (H) 2,097 1,941 37.5% -7.4% 1,470 1,957 33.1% -6.7%
Accommodation and food service activities (I) 6,840 6,591 81.2% -3.6% 3,860 6,789 75.9% -0.7%
Information and communication (JZ) 1,277 1,459 50.9% 14.3% 1,012 1,480 46.2% 15.9%
Financial and insurance activities (KZ) 1,086 1,113 47.0% 2.5% 765 1,142 49.3% 5.2%
Real estate activities (LZ) 1,631 1,603 31.3% -1.7% 1,183 1,623 37.2% -0.5%
Advisory & Business support activities (MN) 5,813 5,508 36.1% -5.2% 4,209 5,546 31.8% -4.6%
Education, human health and social work services, Arts, entertainment and recreation, Other service activities (P to S) 5,140 4,607 48.9% -10.4% 3,260 4,708 44.4% -8.4%
All firms (b) 51,145 48,051 48.3% -6.0% 33,570 48,673 45.0% -4.8%
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early July 2023: final for May, provisional for June.
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 May 23 May 23/May 22 May 23/2019 June 22 June 23 prov. June 23/June 22 June 23/2019
Size
SME, among them 51,119 48,007 48.3% -6.1% 33,547 48,620 44.9% -4.9%
Micro-enterprises and unknown firm's size 48,747 44,341 45.8% -9.0% 31,457 44,874 42.7% -7.9%
Very small firms 1,478 2,255 83.6% 52.6% 1,297 2,321 79.0% 57.0%
Small firms 650 1,054 92.3% 62.2% 595 1,058 77.8% 62.8%
Medium-size firms 244 357 85.0% 46.3% 198 367 85.4% 50.4%
ISE - Large Firms 26 44 91.3% 69.2% 23 53 130.4% 103.8%
All firms 51,145 48,051 48.3% -6.0% 33,570 48,673 45.0% -4.8%
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early July 2023: final for May, provisional for June.
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 May 2023 (+ June 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 May 2023 (+ June 2023 provisional)




3 - Monthly number of bankruptcies
From Jan. 2019 to May 2023 (+ June 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 May 2023 (+ June 2023 provisional)
(in %)
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early July 2023 final for May, provisional for June.
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 - June 2023
Contact: 1489-contenuwebstat-ut@banque-france.fr
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Updated on the 5th of July 2023