Business failures - France 2022Dec

Published on 5 January 2023

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In 2022, the number of corporate bankruptcies normalizes, though not reaching pre-COVID levels.
  • Initiated in Fall 2021, the rise in the number of corporate bankruptcies continues. In 2022, it reaches 41,020 (see Tables A and B, as well as Figure 1).
  • The number of annual corporate bankruptcies remains 20% lower than that the level recorded in 2019 (51,145 corporate bankruptcies took place during the year 2019). In an instantaneous view, the number of monthly bankruptcies also remains lower at the end of 2022 than the level reached at the end of 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.
  • The process of normalization is common to all sectors of the economy (see Figure 2) and slightly more pronounced for SMEs, except for unknown firm's size (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 Nov. 22 Nov. 22/Nov. 21 Nov. 22/2019 Dec. 21 Dec. 22 prov. Déc. 22/Dec. 21 Dec. 22/2019
Business sector
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (AZ) 1,414 1,167 8.6% -17.5% 1,066 1,142 7.1% -19.2%
Industry (BE) 3,436 2,881 58.6% -16.2% 1,822 2,994 64.3% -12.9%
Construction (FZ) 11,089 8,138 36.9% -26.6% 6,054 8,347 37.9% -24.7%
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) 11,136 8,987 54.0% -19.3% 5,916 9,135 54.4% -18.0%
Transportation and storage (H) 2,097 1,693 44.9% -19.3% 1,179 1,740 47.6% -17.0%
Accommodation and food service activities (I) 6,840 5,119 95.1% -25.2% 2,610 5,369 105.7% -21.5%
Information and communication (JZ) 1,277 1,153 35.2% -9.7% 845 1,182 39.9% -7.4%
Financial and insurance activities (KZ) 1,086 953 55.0% -12.2% 622 974 56.6% -10.3%
Real estate activities (LZ) 1,631 1,341 10.9% -17.8% 1,213 1,323 9.1% -18.9%
Advisory & Business support activities (MN) 5,813 4,766 34.2% -18.0% 3,644 4,775 31.0% -17.9%
Education, human health and social work services, Arts, entertainment and recreation, Other service activities (P to S) 5,140 3,928 55.8% -23.6% 2,551 3,960 55.2% -23.0%
All firms (b) 51,145 40,207 47.4% -21.4% 27,592 41,020 48.7% -19.8%
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early January 2023: final for November, provisional for December.
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 Nov. 22 Nov. 22/Nov. 21 Nov. 22/2019 Dec. 21 Dec. 22 prov. Déc. 22/Dec. 21 Dec. 22/2019
Size
SME, among them 51,119 40,176 47.4% -21.4% 27,568 40,991 48.7% -19.8%
Micro-enterprises and unknown firm's size 48,692 37,387 45.3% -23.2% 26,062 38,092 46.2% -21.8%
Very small firms 1,513 1,747 85.5% 15.5% 928 1,817 95.8% 20.1%
Small firms 664 785 86.0% 18.2% 422 811 92.2% 22.1%
Medium-size firms 250 257 66.9% 2.8% 156 271 73.7% 8.4%
ISE - Large Firms 26 31 34.8% 19.2% 24 29 20.8% 11.5%
All firms 51,145 40,207 47.4% -21.4% 27,592 41,020 48.7% -19.8%
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early January 2023: final for November, provisional for December.
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 November 2022 (+ December 2022 provisional)
2 - Number of bankruptcies by sector
Cumulated over previous 12 months
From Dec. 2015 to November 2022 (+ December 2022 provisional)
3 - Monthly number of bankruptcies
From Jan. 2019 to November 2022 (+ December 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 November 2022 (+ December 2022 provisional)
(in %)
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early January 2023 final for November, provisional for December.
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 - December 2022
Contact: 1489-contenuwebstat-ut@banque-france.fr
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