The successive crises of the internet bubble, subprime and Covid-19 have weighed heavily on the accounts of French companies.
While EDF announces this Friday a record loss of 17.9 billion euros in its 2022 financial year, Le Figaro looks back at the five biggest financial hecatombs in the country’s industrial history.
TO HAVE ALSO – Do you approve of the nationalization of EDF?
In 2002, faced with the internet bubble, Vivendi Universal announced a loss of 23.3 billion euros
It is Vivendi Universal (today Vivendi) which occupies the first place of this sad podium, with 23.3 billion euros of losses recorded in 2002. In the context of the internet bubble, the group had previously recorded a 13.6 billion in 2001. A result that prompted the dismissal of the CEO at the time, Jean-Marie Messier, in favor of Jean-René Fourtou. The latter hastened to record a massive depreciation of certain assets of the group (in particular Vivendi Universal Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Canal+) and this to the tune of 21.3 billion euros. A policy which reassured the markets by posting an annual loss ofonly» 1.1 billion euros.
The same year, France Telecom recorded a deficit of 20.7 billion euros
Chance of the calendar, two days before the announcement of Vivendi, France Telecom (now Orange) announces a loss of 20.7 billion euros. Vivendi’s CEO, Jean-René Fourtou, then quips in front of the press: “I do not feel in competition with my comrade Thierry Breton [PDG de France Telecom]“. Appointed a few months before the announcement of the company’s financial results, Thierry Breton also made a significant depreciation of 7.3 billion euros. And this following the withdrawal of France Telecom from its former German partner MobilCom.
Against the background of the financial crisis, Dexia shows a loss of 11.6 billion euros in 2011
In the midst of a sovereign debt crisis, the Franco-Belgian group Dexia posted a record loss of 11.6 billion euros. This amount is explained in particular by the fall in Greek sovereign securities held by the bank requiring the taking of a provision of 3.4 billion euros. The group also decides to separate from two assets in great financial difficulty: Dexia Bank Belgium, taken over by the Belgian State, and Dexia Municipal Agency, taken over by the French State. Its CEO stated at the time:We have paid and we continue to pay the consequences of the excesses of the past“, in connection with the setbacks of its American subsidiary FSA, and “thepurely financial and speculative activities” of the group.
AT following the pandemic, the Renault group recorded a negative result of 8.0 billion euros
In 2020, Renault was hit hard by the Covid-19 crisis. Enough to generate a loss of 8.0 billion euros and a contraction in turnover of more than 20%. This situation is explained by the closure of car factories during the confinement but also by various structural problems. The group faces production overcapacity, the failure of certain ranges and is still penalized by the Carlos Ghosn affair. The entrepreneur was arrested in Japan at the end of 2018 on suspicion of embezzlement.
Total, affected by the fall in prices in 2020, shows a loss of 6.3 billion euros
Given the exceptional results of TotalEnergies in 2022 (20 billion euros in net profit), it is surprising to find the company in this ranking. But in 2020, with the fall in global demand and the significant drop in oil prices due to Covid, the group recorded a loss of 6.3 billion euros. The tanker was also penalized by a depreciation of nearly 10 billion euros of certain assets, mainly linked to the oil sands activities in Canada.
Read alsoTotalEnergies wants to continue its transformation towards renewable energies and gas
TO HAVE ALSO – “Ready for France at a standstill”: EDF workers on strike brought down electricity production by 3,000 MW overnight