Business failures - France 2023May

Published on the 14 June 2023

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At the end of May, 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 June 2022 and May 2023), it reaches 47,231 against 32,401 a year earlier and 59,342 on average pre-pandemic (see Figure 1, as well as Tables A and B).


  • This upward trend affects the various sectors of the economy (see Figure 2) and companies of all sizes (excluding microenterprises and indeterminate sizes).


    •
  • 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 Apr. 23 Apr. 23/Apr. 22 Apr. 23/2019 May 22 May 23 prov. May 23/May 22 May 23/2019
Business sector
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (AZ) 1,414 1,226 11.8% -13.3% 1,121 1,165 3.9% -17.6%
Industry (BE) 3,436 3,464 61.3% 0.8% 2,211 3,462 56.6% 0.8%
Construction (FZ) 11,089 9,476 43.6% -14.5% 6,748 9,607 42.4% -13.4%
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) 11,137 10,349 51.3% -7.1% 7,111 10,515 47.9% -5.6%
Transportation and storage (H) 2,097 1,886 36.2% -10.1% 1,414 1,920 35.8% -8.4%
Accommodation and food service activities (I) 6,840 6,337 84.4% -7.4% 3,634 6,496 78.8% -5.0%
Information and communication (JZ) 1,277 1,403 49.3% 9.9% 968 1,432 47.9% 12.1%
Financial and insurance activities (KZ) 1,086 1,077 47.1% -0.8% 757 1,090 44.0% 0.4%
Real estate activities (LZ) 1,631 1,548 26.4% -5.1% 1,221 1,569 28.5% -3.8%
Advisory & Business support activities (MN) 5,813 5,339 34.6% -8.2% 4,052 5,407 33.4% -7.0%
Education, human health and social work services, Arts, entertainment and recreation, Other service activities (P to S) 5,140 4,493 51.5% -12.6% 3,093 4,490 45.2% -12.6%
All firms (b) 51,145 46,677 48.7% -8.7% 32,401 47,231 45.8% -7.7%
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early June 2023: final for April, provisional for May.
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 Apr. 23 Apr. 23/Apr. 22 Apr. 23/2019 May 22 May 23 prov. May 23/May 22 May 23/2019
Size
SME, among them 51,119 46,634 48.6% -8.8% 32,378 47,190 45.7% -7.7%
Micro-enterprises and unknown firm's size 48,747 43,113 46.2% -11.6% 30,398 43,609 43.5% -10.5%
Very small firms 1,478 2,167 81.6% 46.6% 1,237 2,208 78.5% 49.4%
Small firms 650 1,022 94.3% 57.2% 550 1,041 89.3% 60.2%
Medium-size firms 244 332 89.7% 36.1% 193 332 72.0% 36.1%
ISE - Large Firms 26 43 126.3% 65.4% 23 41 78.3% 57.7%
All firms 51,145 46,677 48.7% -8.7% 32,401 47,231 45.8% -7.7%
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early June 2023: final for April, provisional for May.
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 April 2023 (+ May 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 April 2023 (+ May 2023 provisional)




3 - Monthly number of bankruptcies
From Jan. 2019 to April 2023 (+ May 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 April 2023 (+ May 2023 provisional)
(in %)
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early June 2023 final for April, provisional for May.
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 - May 2023
Contact: 1489-contenuwebstat-ut@banque-france.fr
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Updated on the 14 June 2023