Business insolvencies increased by 16.8% in 2024, according to the Banque de France

Worrying figures. Business insolvencies reached the number of 65,764 over 12 months in December, an increase of 16.8% compared to December 2023, partially due to the catching up of insolvencies that did not occur during the Covid crisis, according to the Banque de France, and slowed economic activity. Defaults over twelve months were slightly lower in November, at 65,298, the Banque de France also indicated on Friday, but their progression over one year was higher: +18.8%. The figures for December 2024 are still provisional.

The progression “is partly linked to a catch-up effect, after the sharp slowdown in insolvencies during the Covid period (2020-2021)”estimates the Bank of France in its press release. It observes that failures – after taking into account recovery and judicial liquidation procedures – are slowing down “across all sectors and for most company sizes”. Among these, the number of mid-sized companies (ETI) and large companies “stabilizes but remains higher than its pre-pandemic average”.

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Real estate activities particularly affected

The strongest increase is found in real estate activities (+31.2% over one year and +29.5% compared to the annual average of the decade preceding Covid). THE “transport and warehousing” (+30.7% over one year, and +57.2% compared to the pre-Covid decade) are also increasing very sharply, as are failures in finance and insurance (+26.9% over one year +46.8% over the pre-Covid period).

On the other hand, if failures in construction are 24.8% more numerous in 2024 than in 2023, their number only exceeds the level of the 2010-2019 decade by 0.4%. By size, the largest increase in insolvencies over one year is found in medium-sized companies: 505 experienced a failure in 2024, up 34% compared to 2023.

Even if it has not increased considerably in 2024 (65 after 60 in 2023, or +8.3%), the number of mid-caps and large failing companies has almost doubled (+97%) compared to the average of the pre-Covid decade (33 per year).