Business failures - France 2018Sep

In August 2018, the number of corporate bankruptcies decreased by 4.1% year-on-year
  • At the end of August 2018, the aggregate number of corporate bankruptcies over the last 12 months amounted to 53,323 down 4.1% compared to August 2017 (see tables A and B and charts 1 and 2).
  • However, the aggregate number of bankruptcies over the past 3 months increases by 4.9% compared to the same aggregate 3 months ago.
Over the past 12 months, corporate bankruptcies decreased in most business sectors
  • The agriculture, industry and construction sectors recorded the strongest decreases in bankruptcies over the past 12 months ( 9.2%, -7.0% and -6.0%, respectively). Bankruptcies also decreased substantially in other sectors, particularly in real estate activities (-5.8%).
  • However, over the same period, corporate bankruptcies increased in the transportation and storage sector (+7.6%) and, to a lesser extent, in the advisory and business support activities (+0.9%).
In August 2018, bankruptcies decreased for all firm sizes
  • Bankruptcies decreased by 4.1% for SMEs and by 6.7% for Intermediate-sized enterprises (ISEs) and large firms (see table B).
The outstanding loan amount of firms filing for bankruptcy over the past 12 months accounts, at the end of August, for nearly 0.35% of the total outstanding loan amount reported to the Banque de France's Central Credit Register.
The aggregate number of corporate bankruptcies decreased by 2.8% at the end of September 2018, according to provisional data (see tables A and B and chart 2).
To find out more: data on business start-ups are reported by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE): Business start-ups on the INSEE's website
A - Corporate bankruptcies by sector
Bankruptcies in number of legal units, year on year change (%)
Aggregate over the last 12 months (a) (gross data) Quater to quater sa/wda (bc) Monthly data sa / wda (c)
Aug-2017 Aug-2018 Aug. 18/Aug. 17 Sep. 18 prov. Sep. 18/Sep. 17 Aug-2018 June 18 July 18 Aug-2018
Business sector
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (AZ) 1,561 1,418 -9.2% 1,411 -8.3% -1.5% 105 119 123
Industry (BE) 3,996 3,715 -7.0% 3,721 -5.8% 1.6% 314 301 328
Construction (FZ) 12,454 11,709 -6.0% 11,736 -4.6% 8.8% 1,004 997 1,069
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (g) 12,210 11,525 -5.6% 11,498 -4.9% 0.2% 974 944 1,000
Transportation and storage (H) 1,800 1,937 7.6% 1,953 7.9% 5.1% 167 185 160
Accommodation and food service activities (I) 7,318 7,173 -2.0% 7,264 0.5% 2.0% 631 595 639
Information and communication (JZ) 1,377 1,342 -2.5% 1,314 -4.4% 0.4% 115 113 110
Financial and insurance activities (KZ) 1,076 1,059 -1.6% 1,047 -2.6% -0.7% 90 96 89
Real estate activities (LZ) 1,834 1,728 -5.8% 1,723 -4.2% -11.8% 130 126 144
Advisory & Business support activities (MN) 5,948 6,000 0.9% 6,023 3.5% 26.1% 471 483 815
Education, human health and social work services, Arts, entertainment and recreation, Other service activities (P to S) 5,526 5,270 -4.6% 5,295 -3.2% 3.8% 476 438 458
All firms (d) 55,604 53,323 -4.1% 53,406 -2.8% 4.9% 4,556 4,445 4,916
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available at end-October 2018
Calculation : Banque de France - Companies Directorate - Companies Observatory
a Aggregate number of corporate bankruptcies over the past 12 months compared to the same aggregate one year ago
b Aggregate number of corporate bankruptcies over the past 3 months compared to the same aggregate three months ago
c sa : seasonally adjusted - wda : working day adjusted
d 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 the last 12 months (a) (gross datat) Quarter to quarter sa/wda (bc) Monthly data sa / wda (c)
Aug. 17 Aug. 18 Aug. 18/Aug. 17 Sep. 18 prov. Sep. 18/Sep. 17 Aug. 18 June 18 July 18 Aug. 18
Size
SME, among them 55,559 53,281 -4.1% 53,368 -2.8% 5.0% 4,554 4,443 4,915
Micro-enterprises and unknown firm's size 52,347 50,277 -4.0% 50,393 -2.6% 5.2% 4,315 4,177 4,660
Very small firms 1,988 1,846 -7.1% 1,838 -6.1% 6.7% 157 159 155
Small firms 920 869 -5.5% 852 -8.3% -9.8% 47 79 74
Medium-size firms 304 289 -4.9% 285 -5.0% -13.2% 22 21 24
ISE - Large Firms 45 42 -6.7% 38 -11.6%
All firms 55,604 53,323 -4.1% 53,406 -2.8% 4.9% 4,556 4,445 4,916
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available at end-October 2018
Calculation : Banque de France - Companies Directorate - Companies Observatory
a Aggregate number of corporate bankruptcies over the past 12 months compared to the same aggregate one year ago
b Aggregate number of corporate bankruptcies over the past 3 months compared to the same aggregate three months ago
c sa : seasonally adjusted - wda : working day adjusted
C - Changes in corporate bankruptcies
1 - Number of bankruptcies
Aggregate number of bankruptcies over the past 12 months
From Dec. 1991 to August 2018
2 - Change in bankruptcies
Year-on-year change in the 12-month aggregate
From Dec. 1991 to August 2018 (+ September 2018 provisional)(in %)
3 - Loan amounts of bankrupt non-Financial
firms over loan amount of all firmsAggregate over the past 12 months
From Dec. 2006 to August 2018 (+ September 2018 provisional)

(in %)
4 - Loan amounts of bankrupt non-financial firms over loan amount of all firms - broken down by firm size
Aggregate over the past 12 months
From Dec. 2006 to August 2018 (+ September 2018 provisional)

(in %)
Source: Banque de France, Companies Directorate, Data available at end-October 2018
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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STAT INFO - September 2018
Corporate bankruptcies in FranceContact: GPS.support@banque-france.fr

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Business failures - France
  • Published on 11/09/2018
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Published on Friday, November 9, 2018