The general finding is reassuring. Inflation, difficult sourcing… Malgré les soubresauts de l’économie mondiale ces derniers mois, les délais de paiement ont de nouveau reculé en France en 2022, selon les chiffres du cabinet Altares, cités dans le rapport annual de l’Observatoire des délais payment.
In detail, delinquency reached 11.7 days on average in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to 12.4 days a year earlier. “Tous les secteurs bénéficient de cette évolution même si les secteurs hébergement-restauration-débit de boissons et transport-logistique restent à des niveaux plus élevés (autour de 16 jours contre 12 jours pour les autres secteurs)”, souligne l’Observatoire des délais payment.
On the other hand, “long delays”, that is, more than 30 days, represented 6% of the total delinquency. A proportion that has returned to the level prior to the health crisis, after having reached almost 9% in 2020. On the contrary, small delays of less than 5 days are increasing, up to 8.7% at the end of 2022, compared to 7.4% at the end of 2021.
In the end, this situation is far from bad given that “the last year has been marked for companies by strong shocks in terms of energy supply and inflation”, explained the president of the Observatory, Jeanne-Marie Prost, adding that France maintained “its position among good European students behind Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands”.
Disparities between regions and companies
It is in Ile-de-France that the most significant non-performing loans are traditionally observed: 16.4 days on average in the fourth quarter of 2022. A figure on the decline (17.3 days in 2021) despite everything. However, it is “in Corsica that payment delays fell the most in 2022 (-2.3 days), but the region showed an increase of more than one day in 2021”, notes the Observatory.
Western mainland France stands out with shorter than average payment delays. This is the case, for example, of Brittany (8.9 days at the end of 2022), Pays de la Loire (8.9 days) or New Aquitaine (9.8 days).
Although the general situation is improving, the Observatory report indicates disparities according to the size of the company. On the one hand, SMEs “continue to be the good students in terms of payment terms to suppliers, since almost three quarters of them pay their invoices in less than 60 days” but “they continue to be the category of business most penalized by the delinquency, with a globally negative effect on its cash flow that can be estimated at 12,000 million euros in 2021”.
The fault of large companies whose payment delays were greater than those of VSEs and SMEs at the end of 2022. In addition, “the proportion of large companies that pay their suppliers without delay decreases slightly between 2020 and 2021, falling below what generally corresponds to an improper transfer of cash for the benefit of large companies”, says the Observatory.
Fine of 35.5 million euros
The General Directorate for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF) is in charge of verifying payment terms. Last year, 1,219 companies were inspected, including 30 public companies and 178 that benefited from an EMP. It seems that “the rate of abnormal establishments observed in 2022 is increasing slightly, as it stands at 33.2%”, after 32% in 2021.
These controls gave rise to 154 warnings, 13 “requests for protection for compliance with legal obligations and the cessation of any unlawful act” and 238 “reports verifying non-compliance” with an administrative sanction at stake. Fines for a total of 33.5 million euros were imposed in the framework of administrative sanctioning procedures.
Payment terms go up again at the beginning of 2023
Despite a better year than expected in 2022, the Delegate Minister for SMEs, Olivia Grégoire, considered that “we cannot be entirely satisfied with the situation”. In particular as the most recent developments for the last few months of 2023 “show that the guidance has risen slightly again” and “the good trend of last year has visibly come to an end”, said Jeanne-Marie Prost.
The president of the Observatory points out that certain companies continue to have abusive practices with their providers, such as “Veolia Eau, Eiffage Route Centre-Est, SFR Fiber (subsidiary of the Altice group, owner of BFM Business), Eni Gaz, Metropole Television, Chantiers de l ‘Atlantiques or Nexans’.
“Ministers must say in the public debate which companies are not fulfilling their responsibilities,” he said, adding that the 33% anomaly rate during the 1,200 checks carried out by the DGCCRF on payment terms was “too high”.
Source: BFM TV
