Business failures - France 2024Feb

Published on the 14th of March 2024

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At the end of February, the number of corporate bankruptcies continued to catch up towards pre-pandemic average

  • At the end of February, the number of corporate bankruptcies aggregated over twelve months continued to catch up, reaching 57,798 (see Figure 1).

  • The number of annual corporate bankruptcies is still lower, but is approaching the average level recorded over the 2010-2019 period (59,342), prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    •
  • This figure reflects a catch-up trend that concerns all sectors of the economy (see Table A) however heterogeneously. It also applies to all company sizes (see Table B).

  • This increase seems to be due to a dual effect :
    • The current slowdown in the economy, even if growth remains positive at 0.8% expected in 2024;
     The Catch up on the "backlog of corporate bankruptcies" observed during the Covid period (nearly 50,000 fewer corporate bankruptcies over the period 2020-2023).
  • Public services and those of the Banque de France are mobilised to help companies in difficulty. However, the number of cases referred to the Credit Mediation Service has not increased.

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 Jan. 24 Jan. 24/Jan. 23 Jan. 24/2010-2019 Feb. 23 Feb. 24 prov. Feb. 24/Feb. 23 Feb. 24/2010-2019
Business sector
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (AZ) 1,359 1,294 5.4% -4.8% 1,223 1,277 4.4% -6.0%
Industry (BE) 4,442 3,916 23.7% -11.8% 3,302 3,946 19.5% -11.2%
Construction (FZ) 14,684 12,026 37.8% -18.1% 8,950 12,257 36.9% -16.5%
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) 13,070 12,296 29.3% -5.9% 9,765 12,511 28.1% -4.3%
Transportation and storage (H) 1,901 2,305 28.6% 21.3% 1,832 2,399 30.9% 26.2%
Accommodation and food service activities (I) 7,374 7,861 38.0% 6.6% 5,925 7,965 34.4% 8.0%
Information and communication (JZ) 1,480 1,729 41.3% 16.8% 1,287 1,732 34.6% 17.0%
Financial and insurance activities (KZ) 1,150 1,359 35.6% 18.2% 1,019 1,391 36.5% 21.0%
Real estate activities (LZ) 1,984 2,038 45.4% 2.7% 1,446 2,045 41.4% 3.1%
Advisory & Business support activities (MN) 6,380 6,718 36.4% 5.3% 5,044 6,812 35.1% 6.8%
Education, human health and social work services, Arts, entertainment and recreation, Other service activities (P to S) 5,311 5,417 27.1% 2.0% 4,377 5,390 23.1% 1.5%
All firms (b) 59,342 57,034 32.6% -3.9% 44,255 57,798 30.6% -2.6%
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available early March 2024: final for January, provisional for February.

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 Jan. 24 Jan. 24/Jan. 23 Jan. 24/2010-2019 Feb. 23 Feb. 24 prov. Feb. 24/Feb. 23 Feb. 24/2010-2019
Size
SME, among them 59,309 56,975 32.6% -3.9% 44,223 57,741 30.6% -2.6%
Micro-enterprises and unknown firm's size 56,055 52,291 30.6% -6.7% 41,143 52,926 28.6% -5.6%
Very small firms 2,011 2,910 59.7% 44.7% 1,928 3,009 56.1% 49.6%
Small firms 913 1,321 59.7% 44.7% 864 1,341 55.2% 46.9%
Medium-size firms 330 453 61.2% 37.3% 288 465 61.5% 40.9%
ISE - Large Firms 33 59 103.4% 78.8% 32 57 78.1% 72.7%
All firms 59,342 57,034 32.6% -3.9% 44,255 57,798 30.6% -2.6%
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available early March 2024: final for January, provisional for February.

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 January 2024 (+ February 2024 provisional)
Note: The orange line represents the average value of the number of corporate bankruptcies over twelve months observed monthly between March 2010 and February 2019.
2 - Change in number of bankruptcies


Annual year-on-year change

From Dec. 1991 to January 2024 (+ February 2024 provisional)

(in %)




3 - Monthly number of bankruptcies

From Jan. 2019 to January 2024 (+ February 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 January 2024 (+ February 2024 provisional) (in %)
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available early March 2024: final for January, provisional for February
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 - February 2024

Contact: 1489-contenuwebstat-ut@banque-france.fr
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Updated on the 13th of March 2024