The number of bankruptcies of companies increased by 43.6% in the first quarter of 2023, compared to the same period of the previous year, according to the latest figures from the consultancy Alteres. In total, 14,317 of them are affected by the opening of collective processes. A figure that corresponds to the breakdowns registered before the Covid pandemic in 2019.
Without reaching the record of judicial liquidations, the upward trend continues The first quarter of 2022 saw a 50% increase in insolvencies in France compared to the beginning of 2021. This new increase of 44% shows that the pace is not slowing slowing down
This is all the more visible since direct judicial liquidations have reached their highest historical level. They now account for more than 10,000 of the 14,000 failures recorded this quarter. That’s an increase of 41.9% in one year.
VSE particularly affected
The companies most affected by this movement are the smallest. Thus, 92% of failures affect companies with less than 10 employees. These VSEs are 13,200 that closed at the beginning of 2023.
Good news, however, for young companies. Those created less than three years ago are now less likely to be prosecuted: 1,520 of them defaulted, or 21% less than a year ago.
Commerce, transport and real estate, weakened sectors
Specifically, certain sectors of activity are suffering especially and are returning, in the best of cases, to their pre-Covid values. This is the case, for example, in retail, where the number of breakdowns increases by almost 50% in one year. We have to go back to 2018 to find such a number of procedures.
The same with the transport of goods. The rulings affect 363 companies in the first quarter of 2023. However, the bar of 300 procedures had not been exceeded for five years, specifies the Altares group.
The increase is also impressive for real estate agencies, which are up 96% compared to the first quarter of 2022, this time the highest since 2015.
regional disparities
Some regions are also returning to their pre-crisis level. Five of them exceed the number of rulings observed at the beginning of 2018. This is the case of Hauts-de-France, where the bar of one thousand initiated procedures has been exceeded. Occitania and New Aquitaine are also going back to their default level at the time.
The strongest increases in one year concern Centre-Val-de-Loire (+58% compared to the first quarter of 2022) and Corsica (+120%).
Source: BFM TV
