Corporate insolvencies in France continued their slow acceleration over a year in July, although they remained 32.2% down compared to the pre-Covid-19 period, the Banque de France said on Wednesday. During the 12-month period ending at the end of July, 34,653 companies declared bankruptcy, or 23.1% more than in the same period ending in July 2021.
Defaults increase progressively, month after month: in June the year-on-year increase was 15.9% compared to the same period in 2021, according to updated data from the Banque de France, and 10% in May. The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly disrupted the insolvency figures, between the slowdown in the activity of the commercial courts and the measures to support the treasury of the companies that prevented them from insolvency.
50,000 a year before the health crisis
The number of failures in France had dropped to about 27,000 in 2021, compared to more than 50,000 a year before the health crisis. In July 2022, “the number of defaults remains slightly above 3,000, as a total since the beginning of the year,” indicates the Banque de France’s monthly report published this Wednesday.
Very small companies contributed significantly to company bankruptcies for twelve months compared to the previous twelve months (+44.4%), as well as small companies (+36.4%). Bankruptcies of medium-sized companies were reduced by 39.5%.
Accommodation and catering is the most represented sector (+34.4%), ahead of transport and storage (+32.6%) and industry (+30.2%). On the other hand, real estate activities (-6.5%) and agriculture, forestry and fishing (-1.8%) have seen their number of insolvencies fall in the last twelve months compared to a year earlier.
Source: BFM TV
