Business failures - France 2023Jan

Published on 15 February 2023

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At the end of January, the number of corporate bankruptcies continues to normalize, though not reaching pre-COVID levels.
  • Initiated in Fall 2021, the rise in the number of corporate bankruptcies continues. Over one year (between February 2022 and January 2023), it reaches 42,640 against 28,124 a year earlier (see Figure 1, as well as Tables A and B).

  • The number of annual corporate bankruptcies remains 17% lower than that the level recorded in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (51,145 corporate bankruptcies took place during the year 2019). 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.

  • In an instantaneous view, the number of monthly bankruptcies also remains lower in January 2023 than in January 2019 (see chart 3).

  • The process of normalization is common to all sectors of the economy (see Figure 2) and slightly more pronounced for SMEs, except for micro enterprises (see Table B and Figure 4).


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 Dec. 22 Dec. 22/Dec. 21 Dec. 22/2019 Jan. 22 Jan. 23 prov. Jan. 23/Jan. 22 Jan. 23/2019
Business sector
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (AZ) 1,414 1,183 10.4% -16.3% 1,062 1,164 9.6% -17.7%
Industry (BE) 3,436 3,005 64.9% -12.5% 1,857 3,155 69.9% -8.2%
Construction (FZ) 11,089 8,375 38.3% -24.5% 6,100 8,639 41.6% -22.1%
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) 11,136 9,152 54.7% -17.8% 6,086 9,465 55.5% -15.0%
Transportation and storage (H) 2,097 1,744 47.8% -16.8% 1,221 1,790 46.6% -14.6%
Accommodation and food service activities (I) 6,840 5,380 106.1% -21.3% 2,734 5,686 108.0% -16.9%
Information and communication (JZ) 1,277 1,184 40.3% -7.3% 875 1,226 40.1% -4.0%
Financial and insurance activities (KZ) 1,086 976 56.9% -10.1% 646 999 54.6% -8.0%
Real estate activities (LZ) 1,631 1,359 11.2% -16.7% 1,229 1,374 11.8% -15.8%
Advisory & Business support activities (MN) 5,813 4,799 31.8% -17.4% 3,682 4,908 33.3% -15.6%
Education, human health and social work services, Arts, entertainment and recreation, Other service activities (P to S) 5,140 4,013 57.2% -21.9% 2,566 4,154 61.9% -19.2%
All firms (b) 51,145 41,249 49.4% -19.3% 28,124 42,640 51.6% -16.6%
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early February 2023: final for December 2022, provisional for January 2023.
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 Dec. 22 Dec. 22/Dec. 21 Dec. 22/2019 Jan. 22 Jan. 23 prov. Jan. 23/Jan. 22 Jan. 23/2019
Size
SME, among them 51,119 41,219 49.4% -19.4% 28,099 42,609 51.6% -16.6%
Micro-enterprises and unknown firm's size 48,733 38,317 46.9% -21.4% 26,541 39,583 49.1% -18.8%
Very small firms 1,487 1,814 96.3% 22.0% 966 1,882 94.8% 26.6%
Small firms 654 815 95.0% 24.6% 435 858 97.2% 31.2%
Medium-size firms 245 273 79.6% 11.4% 157 286 82.2% 16.7%
ISE - Large Firms 26 30 25.0% 15.4% 25 31 24.0% 19.2%
All firms 51,145 41,249 49.4% -19.3% 28,124 42,640 51.6% -16.6%
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early February 2023: final for December 2022, provisional for January 2023.
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 December 2022 (+ January 2023 provisional)
2 - Number of bankruptcies by sector
Cumulated over previous 12 months
From Dec. 2015 to December 2022 (+ January 2023 provisional)
3 - Monthly number of bankruptcies
From Jan. 2019 to December 2022 (+ January 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 December 2022 (+ January 2023 provisional)
(in %)
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early February 2023 final for December 2022, provisional for January 2023.
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 - January 2023
Contact: 1489-contenuwebstat-ut@banque-france.fr
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