VSEs and SMEs are the most affected by the phenomenon, particularly in the catering and accommodation sector.
Corporate insolvencies in France continued their slow acceleration over one year in July, while remaining down 32.2% compared to the period preceding Covid-19, the Banque de France said on Wednesday.
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During the 12-month period ending at the end of July, 34,653 companies declared insolvency, or 23.1% more than for the same period ending in July 2021.
Net contribution of very small businesses
Insolvencies are gradually increasing, 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 10.0% 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 cash flow of companies which prevented them from insolvency. The number of failures in France had dropped to around 27,000 in 2021, compared to more than 50,000 per year before the health crisis.
In the month of July 2022, “the number of failures remains slightly above 3,000, as overall since the beginning of the year“, Indicates the monthly balance sheet of the Banque de France published on Wednesday. Very small businesses made a significant contribution to business failures over twelve months compared to the previous twelve months (+44.4%) as well as small businesses (+36.4%). Bankruptcies of medium-sized companies fell by 39.5%.
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Accommodation and catering are the most represented sectors (+34.4%), ahead of transport and warehousing (+32.6%) and industry (+30.2%). Conversely, real estate activities (-6.5%) and agriculture, forestry and fishing (-1.8%) have seen their number of insolvencies fall over the last twelve months compared to a year earlier.