Business failures - France 2022Oct

Published on 16 November 2022

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By the end of October, the normalization of the number of corporate bankruptcies continues, but bankruptcies remain one fourth below their level before COVID
  • The number of corporate bankruptcies has been increasing since the Fall 2021 (see Figure 2). Over one year (between November 2021 and October 2022), it reaches 38,525 (see Figure 1, as well as Tables A and B).
  • This increase corresponds to a gradual normalization of the number of corporate bankruptcies. 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.
  • Corporate bankruptcies remain, however, one fourth below their level before COVID: their cumulative number by the end of October 2022 is 24.7% lower than in 2019 (51,145 corporate bankruptcies took place during the year 2019).
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 Sep. 21 Sep. 22 Sep. 22/Sep. 21 Sep. 22/2019 Oct. 22 prov. Oct. 22/Oct. 21 Oct. 22/2019
Business sector
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (AZ) 1,414 1,093 1,087 -0.5% -23.1% 1,099 1.9% -22.3%
Industry (BE) 3,435 1,808 2,636 45.8% -23.3% 2,762 54.0% -19.6%
Construction (FZ) 11,089 5,830 7,655 31.3% -31.0% 7,857 34.5% -29.1%
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) 11,135 5,827 8,306 42.5% -25.4% 8,621 48.8% -22.6%
Transportation and storage (H) 2,097 1,149 1,618 40.8% -22.8% 1,673 44.7% -20.2%
Accommodation and food service activities (I) 6,840 2,788 4,564 63.7% -33.3% 4,840 82.8% -29.2%
Information and communication (JZ) 1,277 864 1,081 25.1% -15.3% 1,120 30.5% -12.3%
Financial and insurance activities (KZ) 1,087 642 870 35.5% -20.0% 902 43.2% -17.0%
Real estate activities (LZ) 1,631 1,244 1,260 1.3% -22.7% 1,279 4.2% -21.6%
Advisory & Business support activities (MN) 5,813 3,578 4,533 26.7% -22.0% 4,630 30.2% -20.4%
Education, human health and social work services, Arts, entertainment and recreation, Other service activities (P to S) 5,140 2,613 3,604 37.9% -29.9% 3,661 41.0% -28.8%
All firms (b) 51,145 27,506 37,296 35.6% -27.1% 38,525 41.4% -24.7%
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early November 2022: final for September, provisional for October.
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 Sep. 21 Sep. 22 Sep. 22/Sep. 21 Aug. 22/2019 Oct. 22 prov. Oct. 22/Oct. 21 Oct. 22/2019
Size
SME, among them 51,119 27,482 37,264 35.6% -27.1% 38,495 41.4% -24.7%
Micro-enterprises and unknown firm's size 48,692 25,966 34,841 34.2% -28.4% 35,937 39.8% -26.2%
Very small firms 1,513 941 1,526 62.2% 0.9% 1,611 68.2% 6.5%
Small firms 664 412 678 64.6% 2.1% 716 75.5% 7.8%
Medium-size firms 250 163 219 34.4% -12.4% 231 44.4% -7.6%
ISE - Large Firms 26 24 32 33.3% 23.1% 30 42.9% 15.4%
All firms 51,145 27,506 37,296 35.6% -27.1% 38,525 41.4% -24.7%
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early November 2022: final for September, provisional for October.
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 September 2022 (+ October 2022 provisional)
2 - Change in number of bankruptcies
Annual year-on-year change
From Dec. 1991 to September 2022 (+ October 2022 provisional)
(in %)
3 - Monthly number of bankruptcies
From Jan. 2019 to September 2022 (+ October 2022 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 September 2022 (+ October 2022 provisional)
(in %)
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early November 2022: final for September, provisional for October.
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 - October 2022
Contact: GPS.support@banque-france.fr
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