2023-10-17 20:00:00
More than 10,000 liquidation adjustments and other safeguard procedures have been counted in France since the summer. Nothing to alarm the Banque de France, which attributes this increase to a post-Covid catch-up.
Although the increase in bankruptcies is slowing, they are still on the rise. After an average increase in business insolvencies of around 47% each quarter since the start of 2022, bankruptcies increased by 23% between July 1 and September 30, 2023, compared to the third quarter of 2022. , according to the latest barometer of business failures published by the Altares firm.
Safeguards, receiverships, direct liquidations… Over the last three months, no less than 10,979 procedures have been opened, bringing France back to its 2019 level. Figures welcomed without surprise by Thierry Millon, director of studies at Altares , who notes that “these data correspond to our forecasts and are in line with our projection of 55,000 failures by the end of the year».
Summer 2023, the worst since 2014
Nothing to alarm the Bank of France, which attributes this increase to a post-health crisis catch-up. After the exceptional period of the pandemic during which businesses were particularly supported and supported by the State, public aid dried up. Deprived of the facilities to which they had access during the Covid period, particularly in terms of financing with the loan guaranteed by the State, more and more companies were forced into bankruptcy. However, the Banque de France emphasizes that the current level of insolvencies remains “16% lower than the pre-pandemic average (between 2010 and 2019), which stands at 59 342 bankruptcies accumulated over twelve months».
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However, by observing this standardization phenomenon more closely, one point draws attention: that of the situation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized enterprises (ETIs). Because although of the approximately 11,000 failures recorded in the third quarter of 2023, a large majority concern microenterprises or very small enterprises, 900 – or 8.2% – concerned SMEs and ETIs. A level never reached at this period since 2010, and up 32% compared to last year. Making the summer of 2023 the most affected summer in this area since 2014.
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If the Banque de France is only moderately concerned, knowing that “France experienced 26 times more business creations than failures in 2022“, according to Emilie Quema, director of businesses at the Banque de France, others fear the consequences of this increase in defaults – particularly in terms of employment – among larger companies. Because while SMEs and ETIs represent only 8.2% of all defaults in the third quarter of 2023, they alone account for more than 58% of the 37,300 jobs threatened by these failures, according to Altares.
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«The repercussions are more significant when an SME or ETI defaults than when a VSE goes bankrupt : in the first case, this represents a direct threat to employment“, says Thierry Millon. Because “SMEs and ETIs are larger structures, which provide employment. When they go bankrupt, employees are penalized but also the entire ecosystem of the company. As soon as an SME or mid-sized company falls, it can take its suppliers with it. These bankruptcies then weigh on confidence and therefore ultimately, on consumption »he analyzes.
However, the share of SMEs and mid-sized companies among all companies to go bankrupt has been growing continuously for three years, going from 6.3% at the start of 2020 to 8.2% today. Without falling into alarmism, Thierry Millon calls for people to show themselves “attentive to the situation“. Especially since “we observe SMEs and ETIs in a fragile situation in almost all sectors of the economy», Specifies the director of studies at Altares. Certain sectors are particularly suffering, such as catering which recorded a 21% increase in failures, construction which is returning to its pre-Covid benchmark or even services to individuals such as hairdressing activities or institutes. beauty products which show a 38% increase in defects.
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