Business failures - France - 2025-04

Published on the 6th of June 2025

At the end of April, the increase in the cumulative number of corporate bankruptcies over the last twelve months continues to slow down
  • At the end of April 2025, the cumulative number of corporate bankruptcies over the last twelve months reached 66,937 (see graph 1), slightly higher than in March (66,615, revised data 1). This observation is common across most company sizes and sectors (see tables A and B).

  • On an annual basis, the increase in corporate bankruptcies (cumulative 12 months) continued to decelerate gradually (+10.6% in April, compared with +12.2% in March - see graph 2).

  • The number of corporate bankruptcies among intermediate-sized enterprises (ISEs) and large companies has remained constant for several months, but at a higher level than its pre-pandemic average.

  • Over the same period, the corporate population is growing; according to INSEE, more than 1.11 million enterprises were created at the end of April 2025 over a sliding 12-month period, up 1.7% compared with the cumulative 12 months to the end of April 2024.


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 Mar. 25 Mar. 25/Mar. 24 Mar. 25/2010-2019 Apr. 24 Apr. 25 Apr. 25/Apr. 24 Apr. 25/2010-2019
Business sector
Agriculture, forestry and fishing (AZ) 1,359 1,503 9.9% 10.6% 1,379 1,450 5.1% 6.7%
Industry (BE) 4,442 4,249 5.5% -4.3% 4,053 4,280 5.6% -3.6%
Construction (FZ) 14,684 14,805 16.5% 0.8% 13,074 14,868 13.7% 1.3%
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) 13,071 13,669 8.0% 4.6% 12,844 13,852 7.8% 6.0%
Transportation and storage (H) 1,901 3,011 20.9% 58.4% 2,556 3,032 18.6% 59.5%
Accommodation and food service activities (I) 7,374 8,850 10.1% 20.0% 8,199 8,900 8.5% 20.7%
Information and communication (JZ) 1,480 2,065 17.9% 39.5% 1,762 2,091 18.7% 41.3%
Financial and insurance activities (KZ) 1,150 1,665 15.8% 44.8% 1,493 1,671 11.9% 45.3%
Real estate activities (LZ) 1,984 2,553 14.9% 28.7% 2,286 2,508 9.7% 26.4%
Advisory & Business support activities (MN) 6,379 8,069 15.7% 26.5% 7,094 8,114 14.4% 27.2%
Education, human health and social work services, Arts, entertainment and recreation, Other service activities (P to S) 5,311 6,077 7.7% 14.4% 5,728 6,065 5.9% 14.2%
All firms (b) 59,342 66,615 12.2% 12.3% 60,541 66,937 10.6% 12.8%
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available at the beginning of June 2025.
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.
b The line « All firms » includes legal units whose business sector is not known.


1 As a reminder, the data is revised on a monthly basis, with judgement records that may be communicated at a later date.




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 Mar. 25 Mar. 25/Mar. 24 Mar. 25/2010-2019 Apr. 24 Apr. 25 Apr. 25/Apr. 24 Apr. 25/2010-2019
Size
SME, among them 59,309 66,550 12.2% 12.2% 60,475 66,873 10.6% 12.8%
Micro-enterprises and unknown firm's size 56,055 61,096 11.9% 9.0% 55,629 61,342 10.3% 9.4%
Very small firms 2,011 3,408 12.7% 69.5% 3,090 3,457 11.9% 71.9%
Small firms 913 1,546 21.5% 69.3% 1,313 1,561 18.9% 71.0%
Medium-size firms 330 500 16.0% 51.5% 443 513 15.8% 55.5%
ISE - Large Firms 33 65 -1.5% 97.0% 66 64 -3.0% 93.9%
All firms 59,342 66,615 12.2% 12.3% 60,541 66,937 10.6% 12.8%
Source: Banque de France - database: Fiben. Data available at the beginning of June 2025.
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 April 2025
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 April 2025
(in %)




3 - Monthly number of bankruptcies
Mean 2010-2019 and from Jan. 2020 to April 2025
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 April 2025
(in %)
Note: the sharp one-off rise in the weighting of outstanding loans in the Very small firms category observed between April 2024 and March 2025 is absorbed in April 2025 due to the removal from the cumulative total of one legal unit went bankrupt in April 2024, classified in this category due to its small number of employees. For small businesses, the rise observed since the beginning of 2022 is due both to an increase in the number of bankruptcies and to an increase in the average loan outstanding. Since July 2024, 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 at the beginning of June 2025.



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Corporate bankruptcies


STAT INFO - April 2025
Contact: 1489-contenuwebstat-ut@banque-france.fr
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Updated on the 5th of June 2025