If, on the economic front, France is experiencing growth in its GDP going beyond forecasts (0.5% in the second quarter), the number of business bankruptcies has returned to its average before the Covid crisis. These have never been so numerous since 2016, a period marked by European financial crises. According to the last study from private firm Altares, which specializes in business data, the number of bankruptcies increased by 35% compared to the same period last year.
The end of the aid put in place by the State during the Covid-19 pandemic and the current economic situation largely explain this return to normal. The number of bankruptcies, which had fallen to historically low levels with the business support measures taken during the health crisis (21,000 bankruptcies in 2021, compared to 50,000 on average between 2000 and 2019), has thus started to rise again since then. the beginning of 2022.
The strikes caused loss of turnover
THE social movements and strikes against the pension reform this spring have also caused losses of turnover in certain sectors. The hotel and restaurant sector is particularly affected (78.8%), with many takeaway businesses, whose number had exploded during the pandemic, which are now closing. The sector had also been the subject of massive public aid during the health crisis.
All companies combined, over the last twelve months, the Central Bank has counted 47,231 failures, an increase of 45.8% compared to May 2022, against 51,145 failures recorded in 2019.
Mid-size companies far from being spared
Very small businesses are the most affected by this situation. They are the subject of 9 out of 10 bankruptcy files. However, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and medium-sized enterprises (ETI) are far from being spared. Still according to the firm Altares, the bankruptcies of SMEs and ETIs are at their highest for more than ten years, threatening nearly 55,000 jobs. A record since 2014. More than 1,100 SMEs and ETIs defaulted.
In the clothing sector, the rise in insolvencies reached 70%. Construction, affected by soaring interest rates, rising material prices and falling building permits, is also affected. The bankruptcies of the two players in express shopping delivery, Getir and Gorillas, have already led to 1,708 layoffs. That of CourtePaille, 1620, San Marina, 680, Camaïeu, 2,700…
Business creations down slightly
At the same time, the number of business start-ups fell slightly. If 2022 was a record year, 2023 is marking time. In the first half of 2023, nearly 527,600 companies were born, compared to 537,770 a year earlier over the same period, according to the latest figures made public this Thursday by INSEE.
However, over one year, the total number of businesses created still increased by 1.8%. Despite rising bankruptcies, between 83,000 and 87,000 businesses have been created since the start of the year. Figures mainly driven by micro-enterprises. In a newspaper interview The echoes, the president of the Initiative France network, which supports business creation, Guillaume Pepy, former boss of the SNCF, believes that the decline in the creation of traditional businesses is due to “economic reasons”.