Business failures - France - 2024-11
Published on the 19th of December 2024
At the end of November, the year-on-year increase in the number of corporate bankruptcies continued to slow down
- At the end of November, the provisional cumulative number of corporate bankruptcies aggregated over the last twelve months amounted to 64,909 compared with 65,070 the previous month (see graph 1).
- On an annual basis, the cumulative number of corporate bankruptcies over the last twelve months rose by 18.1%. This increase partly reflects a catch-up, after a sharp slowdown during the covid period (2020-2021).
- In November, however, corporate bankruptcies rose at a slightly slower rate than in October (18.1% compared with 21.8% in October) across all sectors and all company sizes (see tables A and B and graph 2). The number of corporate bankruptcies among intermediate-sized enterprises (ISEs) and large companies has stabilized, but remains higher than its pre-pandemic average.
- The public services and those of the Banque de France are mobilized to help companies in difficulty.
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) | ||||||||
| Mean 2010-2019 | Oct. 24 | Oct. 24/Oct. 23 | Oct. 24/2010-2019 | Nov. 23 | Nov. 24 prov. | Nov. 24/Nov. 23 | Nov. 24/2010-2019 | |
| Business sector | ||||||||
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing (AZ) | 1,359 | 1,461 | 18.0% | 7.5% | 1,256 | 1,409 | 12.2% | 3.7% |
| Industry (BE) | 4,442 | 4,216 | 9.5% | -5.1% | 3,892 | 4,222 | 8.5% | -5.0% |
| Construction (FZ) | 14,684 | 14,271 | 28.8% | -2.8% | 11,469 | 14,350 | 25.1% | -2.3% |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) | 13,070 | 13,787 | 19.5% | 5.5% | 11,830 | 13,683 | 15.7% | 4.7% |
| Transportation and storage (H) | 1,901 | 2,928 | 40.6% | 54.0% | 2,196 | 2,935 | 33.7% | 54.4% |
| Accommodation and food service activities (I) | 7,374 | 8,552 | 15.3% | 16.0% | 7,663 | 8,471 | 10.5% | 14.9% |
| Information and communication (JZ) | 1,480 | 1,950 | 19.9% | 31.8% | 1,679 | 1,950 | 16.1% | 31.8% |
| Financial and insurance activities (KZ) | 1,150 | 1,664 | 31.3% | 44.7% | 1,284 | 1,678 | 30.7% | 45.9% |
| Real estate activities (LZ) | 1,984 | 2,581 | 42.9% | 30.1% | 1,859 | 2,558 | 37.6% | 28.9% |
| Advisory & Business support activities (MN) | 6,379 | 7,728 | 24.8% | 21.1% | 6,402 | 7,744 | 21.0% | 21.4% |
| Education, human health and social work services, Arts, entertainment and recreation, Other service activities (P to S) | 5,311 | 5,842 | 11.1% | 10.0% | 5,348 | 5,820 | 8.8% | 9.6% |
| All firms (b) | 59,342 | 65,070 | 21.8% | 9.7% | 54,954 | 64,909 | 18.1% | 9.4% |
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available early December 2024: final for October, provisional for November.
Calculation: Banque de France - Companies Directorate - Companies Observatory.
Note: According to INSEE, the number of firms has risen by around 40% in 10 years.
a Aggregate number of corporate bankruptcies over previous 12 months compared to the same aggregate one year before and with the 2010-2019 mean.
b The line « All firms » includes legal units whose business sector is not known.
Calculation: Banque de France - Companies Directorate - Companies Observatory.
Note: According to INSEE, the number of firms has risen by around 40% in 10 years.
a Aggregate number of corporate bankruptcies over previous 12 months compared to the same aggregate one year before and with the 2010-2019 mean.
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) | ||||||||
| Mean 2010-2019 | Oct. 24 | Oct. 24/Oct. 23 | Oct. 24/2010-2019 | Nov. 23 | Nov. 24 prov. | Nov. 24/Nov. 23 | Nov. 24/2010-2019 | |
| Size | ||||||||
| SME, among them | 59,309 | 65,007 | 21.8% | 9.6% | 54,895 | 64,848 | 18.1% | 9.3% |
| Micro-enterprises and unknown firm's size | 56,055 | 59,710 | 21.2% | 6.5% | 50,672 | 59,554 | 17.5% | 6.2% |
| Very small firms | 2,011 | 3,279 | 26.1% | 63.1% | 2,677 | 3,290 | 22.9% | 63.6% |
| Small firms | 913 | 1,509 | 31.7% | 65.3% | 1,174 | 1,506 | 28.3% | 65.0% |
| Medium-size firms | 330 | 509 | 46.7% | 54.2% | 372 | 498 | 33.9% | 50.9% |
| ISE - Large Firms | 33 | 63 | 8.6% | 90.9% | 59 | 61 | 3.4% | 84.8% |
| All firms | 59,342 | 65,070 | 21.8% | 9.7% | 54,954 | 64,909 | 18.1% | 9.4% |
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available early December 2024: final for October, provisional for November.
Calculation: Banque de France - Companies Directorate - Companies Observatory.
a Aggregate number of corporate bankruptcies over previous 12 months compared to the same aggregate one year before and with the 2010-2019 mean.
Calculation: Banque de France - Companies Directorate - Companies Observatory.
a Aggregate number of corporate bankruptcies over previous 12 months compared to the same aggregate one year before and with the 2010-2019 mean.
C - Changes in corporate bankruptcies![]()
1 - Number of bankruptcies
Cumulated over previous 12 months
From Dec. 1991 to October 2024 (+ November 2024 provisional)
Cumulated over previous 12 months
From Dec. 1991 to October 2024 (+ November 2024 provisional)
Note: The orange line represents the average value of the number of corporate bankruptcies over twelve months observed monthly between January 2010 and December 2019.
2 - Change in number of bankruptcies
Annual year-on-year change
From Dec. 1991 to October 2024 (+ November 2024 provisional)
(in %)
Annual year-on-year change
From Dec. 1991 to October 2024 (+ November 2024 provisional)
(in %)
3 - Monthly number of bankruptcies
Mean 2010-2019 and From Jan. 2020 to October 2024 (+ November 2024 provisional)
Mean 2010-2019 and From Jan. 2020 to October 2024 (+ November 2024 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 October 2024 (+ November 2024 provisional)
(in %)
Cumulated over previous 12 months
From Dec. 2006 to October 2024 (+ November 2024 provisional)
(in %)
Note: the sharp rise in the weighting of outstanding loans in the Very small businesses category from April 2024 is due to a legal unit, classified in this category due to its small size. Without this legal unit, the weight of Very small businesses failures in terms of outstanding loans would be equal to 0.86%. For small businesses, the rise is due both to an increase in the number of bankruptcies and to an increase in the average loan outstanding. Over the month of November, it was further strengthened by the default of a small corporate with significant outstandings in this category.
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available early December 2024: final for October, provisional for November.
Download the PDF version of the document
EN_Stat_Info_Corporate_Bankruptcies_202411.pdf
Updated on the 18th of December 2024