At the end of April 2023, over a sliding 12-month period in metropolitan France, nearly 46,900 companies were involved in collective proceedings. 45,655 entities were declared insolvent through the opening of a receivership or a direct judicial liquidation, an increase of +47.7%; at the same time, 1,243 safeguard procedures were recorded, an increase of +48.9%. Over the first four months of 2023, the trend remains significant, with +39.7% in direct receiverships and liquidations and +31.1% in safeguard procedures compared with the same period in 2022.
However, a relative lull has been observed in the number of receivership and direct liquidation cases opened in April (+26.7%) compared to April 2022, after the sharp increases at the beginning of 2023 (+40 to +50%).
In the regions, Ile-de-France, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, PACA and Occitanie accounted for the majority of insolvencies (54.4%). The breakdown of insolvencies is slightly different: Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, New Aquitaine, Ile-de-France and PACA bring together 53.6% of the procedures opened in Metropolitan France.
The largest increases in the number of insolvencies over the year were in Corsica (+102.7%), Centre-Val-de-Loire (+64.2%) and Occitania (+60.3%).
As regards safeguard procedures, the Corsica (+233%), PACA (+87.2%) and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (+88.1%) regions are the first to be affected.
The trio of construction and public works, personal services and business services still account for over 50% of insolvencies. In the case of insolvencies, distribution must be added to this trio of sectors in order to account for the majority of procedures opened in mainland France.
Certain sectors, which have been severely impacted by the rise in raw materials and energy prices, continue to suffer particularly badly. Thus, the number of receiverships and liquidations in the food industry has increased by 80.2%. For their part, the Services to Individuals sector is suffering from a 74% increase, still suffering from consumers' arbitration on non-essential services.
With regard to safeguard procedures, the difficulties are increasing in the Distribution and Collective Services sectors, with a 129% increase in the number of procedures opened in each of these two sectors.
