Business insolvencies increased 5.2% year-on-year in the third quarter, the Altares firm indicated this Tuesday, October 14, with a particularly bad month of September, but an improvement could appear next year.
From July to September, 14,371 breakdowns were recorded, according to the quarterly study published by the group specialized in business data, which speaks of “a summer record”, with almost half of the breakdowns, 6,800, recorded in the month of September alone. Such a volume of back-to-school failures has not been seen since 2009, a year of severe recession.
Small industrial companies are greatly affected
The term default corresponds to a company that can no longer pay its debts and is in default. A collective procedure is then opened (such as a receivership or even a judicial liquidation).
Since the beginning of the year, he points out, 50,700 companies have gone bankrupt, or 1,600 more than at the end of September 2024. Among the worst oriented data, very small companies (VSE) with more than 5 employees are “under pressure”, with an increase in bankruptcies this summer of 9% compared to the previous summer, as well as SMEs with between 10 and 19 employees (+13%).
Breakdowns increase by 17% in the manufacturing industry and 9% in business services.
Glimpses of hope
However, some positive signs are emerging. The proportion of judicial redress is increasing and now represents 30% of proceedings, compared to less than a quarter in 2021-2022. They increased by 10.7% in one year, while direct judicial settlements slowed to +2.8%. Recovery – as well as safeguarding, a less used procedure (331 cases in the third quarter) – offers companies breathing room to recover or be sold.
At the sector level, construction (+2%) and commerce (+2%) show relative resistance.
At a regional level, insolvencies increase in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (+13.5%), New Aquitaine (+11.7%), Pays de la Loire (+14.8%), Corsica (+14.3%) and, especially, Centre-Val de Loire (+33.2%), but decrease in Brittany (-9.7%), PACA (-3.8%) and Grand Est (-0.4%).
“Among persistent uncertainties and signs of improvement” in the business climate, Thierry Millon wants to believe at the beginning: according to him, “this last quarter could, if the trend is not reversed, stop the bleeding and pave the way towards the improvement expected for 2026.”
Source: BFM TV
