Business failures - France 2023Jul
Published on 17 August 2023
At the end of July, the number of corporate bankruptcies is still on an upward trend and remains below its average pre-pandemic level.
- At the end of July, the number of corporate bankruptcies aggregated over twelve months is still increasing (to reach 49 863, see Figure 1).
- The number of annual corporate bankruptcies remains significantly lower than the average level recorded over the 2010-2019 period (59 342), 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.
- This catch-up trend affects all sectors of the economy (see Table A and Figure 2), however heterogeneously, and companies of all sizes, but to a lesser extent for microenterprises and indeterminate size (see Table B).
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 | June 23 | June 23/June 22 | June 23/2019 | July 22 | July 23 prov. | July 23/July 22 | July 23/2019 | |
| Business sector | ||||||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing (AZ) | 1,414 | 1,238 | 13.0% | -12.4% | 1,109 | 1,189 | 7.2% | -15.9% |
| Industry (BE) | 3,436 | 3,616 | 56.5% | 5.2% | 2,420 | 3,695 | 52.7% | 7.5% |
| Construction (FZ) | 11,089 | 9,925 | 42.3% | -10.5% | 7,293 | 10,109 | 38.6% | -8.8% |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) | 11,137 | 10,832 | 47.4% | -2.7% | 7,684 | 10,939 | 42.4% | -1.8% |
| Transportation and storage (H) | 2,097 | 1,967 | 33.9% | -6.2% | 1,518 | 1,994 | 31.4% | -4.9% |
| Accommodation and food service activities (I) | 6,840 | 6,843 | 77.5% | 0.0% | 4,104 | 6,966 | 69.7% | 1.8% |
| Information and communication (JZ) | 1,277 | 1,487 | 47.1% | 16.4% | 1,045 | 1,524 | 45.8% | 19.3% |
| Financial and insurance activities (KZ) | 1,086 | 1,148 | 49.7% | 5.7% | 802 | 1,165 | 45.3% | 7.3% |
| Real estate activities (LZ) | 1,631 | 1,656 | 39.9% | 1.5% | 1,236 | 1,633 | 32.1% | 0.1% |
| Advisory & Business support activities (MN) | 5,813 | 5,601 | 33.1% | -3.6% | 4,329 | 5,717 | 32.1% | -1.7% |
| Education, human health and social work services, Arts, entertainment and recreation, Other service activities (P to S) | 5,140 | 4,825 | 48.0% | -6.1% | 3,369 | 4,848 | 43.9% | -5.7% |
| All firms (b) | 51,145 | 49,224 | 46.7% | -3.8% | 34,983 | 49,863 | 42.5% | -2.5% |
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early August 2023: final for June, provisional for July.
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
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 | June 23 | June 23/June 22 | June 23/2019 | July 22 | July 23 prov. | July 23/July 22 | July 23/2019 | |
| Size | ||||||||
| SME, among them | 51,118 | 49,171 | 46.6% | -3.8% | 34,960 | 49,807 | 42.5% | -2.6% |
| Micro-enterprises and unknown firm's size | 48,702 | 45,342 | 44.0% | -6.9% | 32,801 | 45,853 | 39.8% | -5.8% |
| Very small firms | 1,527 | 2,366 | 83.6% | 54.9% | 1,362 | 2,443 | 79.4% | 60.0% |
| Small firms | 651 | 1,099 | 94.9% | 68.8% | 590 | 1,147 | 94.4% | 76.2% |
| Medium-size firms | 238 | 364 | 91.6% | 52.9% | 207 | 364 | 75.8% | 52.9% |
| ISE - Large Firms | 27 | 53 | 152.4% | 96.3% | 23 | 56 | 143.5% | 107.4% |
| All firms | 51,145 | 49,224 | 46.7% | -3.8% | 34,983 | 49,863 | 42.5% | -2.5% |
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early August 2023: final for June, provisional for July.
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).
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 June 2023 (+ July 2023 provisional)
Cumulated over previous 12 months
From Dec. 1991 to June 2023 (+ July 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 June 2023 (+ July 2023 provisional)
Cumulated over previous 12 months
From Dec. 2015 to June 2023 (+ July 2023 provisional)
3 - Monthly number of bankruptcies
From Jan. 2019 to June 2023 (+ July 2023 provisional)
From Jan. 2019 to June 2023 (+ July 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 June 2023 (+ July 2023 provisional)
(in %)
Cumulated over previous 12 months
From Dec. 2006 to June 2023 (+ July 2023 provisional)
(in %)
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available in early July 2023 final for May, provisional for June.
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