More than 55,000 companies closed in France in 2023, the highest number since 2017. This is stated in a report published on Friday on the website of the Bank of France.
“In 2023, the number of bankruptcies rose to 55,492 by the end of December,” the report said.
The figure is calculated based on the average number of bankruptcies and liquidations of private companies over the past 12 months. It was higher in August 2017 and up to December 2008, according to the graph above. As the Bank of France notes, the current level is no higher than the average between 2010 and 2019 (59,342). During the Covid-19 pandemic (2020-2021), it was half what it is now.
Most of these are SMEs (55,435) with up to 250 employees. At the same time, the number of medium and large companies with more than 250 employees that closed last year reached 57 – twice as many as in the previous year.
The negative trend is most noticeable in the restaurant and hotel business (+44.6% compared to 2022) and in information and communication technologies (+44.4%). The number of companies in the real estate (+40.4%) and construction (+38.7%) sectors also decreased quite strongly. Only in the agricultural sector there was a noticeable improvement in the situation (-1.3%).
Le Monde newspaper notes that business suffers from the accumulation of debts on taxes, social contributions and to banks. According to the Altares consulting company, only half of the companies repay their debts on time. The newspaper also points to the belated actions of many directors to prevent bankruptcy and liquidation through the courts.
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